


A Fistful of GAC

by thetolkiengeek



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura is a badass, Allura is a sheriff, Alternate Universe - Western, Bi/Pan Shiro, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Coran is a doctor, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Guess I gotta add, Hunk runs a saloon, Keith and Shiro are Siblings, Lance is a freelance sharpshooter, M/M, Minor Character Death, Oh my god just kidding there’s so much klance, Pidge is a little genius, Pining Keith (Voltron), Shiro and Keith breed horses, Wild West AU, also I'm so sorry Coran, also there will be Klance, because this is the west after all, but like a wholesome saloon, but the main focus is taking back the west, gotta love a good revenge story, i'm trying but i just can't write for you, it gonna be a slooooow burn though, it's all my fault, minor shallura, some gun violence, you're barely there
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-15
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-02-03 01:04:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 35,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12737889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thetolkiengeek/pseuds/thetolkiengeek
Summary: The West has always been a harsh and dangerous place, but good folks who work hard have always made do. But now, Zarkon's greed threatens them all. He wants all land in the West, and he's resorted to hurting good people to get it.Altea is the last stronghold. If Zarkon gets it, his empire will be complete.Six months ago, Alfor received a cryptic message from a man named Shiro, telling him he knew how to defeat Zarkon once and for all. But when the Altea mansion burns down, Alfor trapped inside, it is left to Allura, his daughter, to save  her town, avenge her father, and take back the West. But she can't do it alone. She’ll need the help of a band of unlikely heroes, young folks who all have their own reasons for taking down Zarkon.Keith, a horse breeder who’s been struggling every since his brother Shiro went missing all those months ago.Pidge, a girl too smart for a small town, who just wants her family back.Hunk, a saloon owner who is sick of seeing the people he loves suffer for someone else’s greed.And Lance, a skilled sharpshooter and an unskilled flirt, who can’t stand the sight of his family struggling.The West is an unforgiving place, but if they don’t fight, who will?





	1. Prologue (Part 1): Kindled Courage

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! So I got this idea a while ago, and it just wouldn't let me go, so welcome to my Voltron Western AU! I'm really excited about this, and I hope you are too. 
> 
> Anyway, this is the first multi-chapter fic I've ever written, and of course it's super ambitious, but I am determined to finish this if it's the last thing I do. I've got the whole story mapped out, and I was anticipating it being around 30k, but just judging by how long the prologue is, it might be more than that. So strap in, folks! It's gonna be a Journey.
> 
> I can't guarantee regular updates, simply because I'm applying to PhD programs, and I'm also writing an Honors Thesis, so I've got a lot on my plate. But this has been really fun for me to write and plan out, and winter break is coming, so I'm hoping that I can crank out most of it then. If not, I'll aim for updates at least once a month. 
> 
> But for now, here's my completely self-indulgent Wild West AU :)

**Six months ago...**

**Allura**

Allura sat in the empty sheriff’s station, her feet propped up on her desk, and her whip in her hands. She really wished that her station was empty because Altea was a sleepy town in the middle of nowhere, and not because the outlaws that had been terrorizing her town for the past few months were more slippery than oiled snakes. She painstakingly greased her whip, with each stroke envisioning capturing those bastards who keep destroying the town’s crops.

It wasn’t just her reputation as sheriff at stake. With the people of the town becoming more and more desperate as their crops were burned, or stolen off trains before they could sell, that was the last thing on her mind. The only reason most of the people were still there and not either starving to death or moving to the next town over, was because of her father. Alfor owned most of the land in Altea, and he had made damn sure that his people were surviving.

But Allura saw the toll it took on him. The dark circles under his eyes weren’t going away, and though he smiled softly for her, she could see his face falling every time he thought she was out of sight.

Allura continued to grease her whip, but the usually calming action wasn’t cooling her anger. This was all Zarkon’s fault.

Zarkon, her step-uncle, who somehow managed to get a hold of almost all the land in the West. Zarkon, who was definitely hiring the gangs that were causing so much destruction in her little corner of the world. Zarkon, who despite everything was sneaky enough to not let any of it trace back to him.

His greed was going to kill the West.

Allura sighed and curled her whip up before setting it down on the desk. She just wished there were something she could do. She knew her father was working hard to figure out how to take him down. Allura had tried her best to use her power as sheriff to help, but despite being elected, she was still given shit for being a woman who dared to do a man’s job. Not like the other men could actually do what she did, but that was beside the point apparently.

Allura looked around the tiny station, wishing that she had at least one person in the holding cell to show for all her hard work. But alas, Zarkon’s cronies were good at what they did, often leaving before anyone even knew they were there.

Suddenly, the door burst open. Allura startled, but quickly recovered, standing up in one smooth motion.

“Coran, what’s wrong?” she asked. Finally, something to do.

Coran was the local doctor, and one of her father’s closest friends. Perhaps more than that, if Allura was reading that right. To be honest, Coran was more family than anything else, her uncle in all but blood. But right now, he was trying to catch his breath, clearly having run across town. Not an uncommon occurrence, given Coran’s proclivity for the theatrical.

Coran looked up, and the mild amusement Allura had felt at seeing her uncle was replaced by a horrendously cold feeling in her chest. His eyes no longer held that sparkling glint, but instead they were filled with what Allura could only guess was true terror.

“Your father,” he said, his voice breaking.

Allura felt a wave of fear wash over her, but it quickly turned into determination.

“Where?”

“The house.”

Allura picked the whip up from her desk and marched out the door.

“Wait, Allura!” Coran called. “It’s not safe!”

Allura turned to him, her eyes flashing with barely held anger. “If my father is in trouble, I’m going to help. It’s my job.”

She didn’t wait for a response, just turned and unhitched her horse from the post. Or, at least, she tried to. Her hands were shaking so much. With anger, fear, or something else, she didn’t know.

A pair of calloused hands covered her own, steadying them as he helped her to untie Castillo.

“Deep breath, Allura,” Coran said gently.

Right. She was no use to anyone if she was upset. But her father was in danger, and damn it if she wasn’t going to save him.

She mounted Castillo and took off, Coran fading into the distance. He’d catch up, she was sure. He was no horseman, but he wasn’t afraid of a little running.

Unfortunately, Coran’s terror couldn’t prepare her for what she was about to see. Her house, her childhood home, was up in flames. She could see the fire licking the second story. People had just wandered out of their houses, staring up at the Altea mansion as it burned down. Allura knew the feeling, frozen as she was helpless to the destruction.

Wait, no. She wasn’t helpess. Her horse was dancing around, trying to get away from the fire, but she wrestled control of the reins, patting Castillo’s neck until he calmed down. Step one down. Now, to get to work.

“You!” she pointed to a random person to her left. “Go sound the alarm bells!”

“Yes, ma’am!” they yelled back, running towards the town to to City Hall.

“Everyone else! Go home and grab as many buckets as you can! If you pass anyone along the way, tell them to do the same! We’re going to make a line from the well to the house.”

To her surprise, everyone raced to do what she said.

She was grateful that the Altea mansion was far enough removed from the rest of the town that the fire was in no danger of spreading.

The first of the townspeople came back with buckets, and even more people. Young, old, everyone came out to help. Allura directed them to make a line, making sure the little kids were responsible for running the empty buckets back to the beginning of the line.

They managed to get a good rhythm going, but Allura feared they had arrived too late. The fire was dampened, but house fires were no joke.

And her father wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

She waited. And waited. And he still didn’t come out. He didn’t appear amongst the townspeople.

She kept passing buckets, but she couldn’t help the tears that blurred her vision. At one point, she fumbled a bucket and the water sloshed all over her. Comforting hands patted her back and pulled her out of the line.

Allura just sat on the dusty ground and sobbed.

She didn’t know how much time had passed, but someone shook her shoulder, and she looked up. Coran’s kind face peered down at her, his own eyes rimmed with red.

The fire was out, but there was only a shell left of her home.

“Father?” Allura asked, her voice croaking.

Coran just shook his head, tears spilling onto his cheeks.

“I went inside…” Coran said. “He was…oh god…”

Coran broke, tears spilling down in earnest. “I’m not sure how this survived, but he was holding this…”

Coran handed Allura a slightly burnt piece of paper. It was a telegraph, from a distant town called Kerberos, from some man named Shiro.

“Who…” Allura started.

“I don’t know. But apparently, he knows how to take down Zarkon.”

Allura felt anger surge in her. This was no longer about her town. This was vengeance.

“Coran, we have to find this man.”

Coran just nodded.

Suddenly, a shot rang out in the night, and Allura heard a bloodcurdling scream.

Allura stood up, ignoring the wave of dizziness that hit her. More shots sounded, echoing across the town. She saw shadows of men on horseback running through the town, periodically firing.

“Run!” Allura screamed, pulling her whip out and wrapping it around a man’s shotgun, pulling it out of his hands before he even knew what happened.

She mounted up on Castillo, pulling Coran up with her.

The townspeople were being picked off, by the wicked men she didn’t doubt were Zarkon’s own cronies.

Dammit. She should have suspected he wouldn’t satisfy himself with just burning crops forever. Altea was one of the last strongholds, and Zarkon had had his eye on it for years.

But she never thought he’d resort to something like this.

“We have to get out of here!” Coran yelled in his ear.

“I can’t just leave my people to die!” Allura yelled back, disarming yet another man, and then whipping his horse while he was unsteady. She watched as fell off and was dragged along, his foot caught in his stirrups.

“You’re the only thing stopping Zarkon from taking Altea! If you die, he’ll have it all.”

Allura yelled in frustration. She didn’t want to leave her people, but Coran was right. As long as she was alive, Altea had a chance.

One of the townspeople, who managed to get a hold of her shotgun, yelled up at Allura.

“Go! We’ll hold them off so you can get away. They’ll never take Altea.”

Allura’s voice broke as she thanked the brave woman.

Then, she wheeled Castillo away from the fight and galloped into the black desert night, Coran clinging to her back. She clutched the telegraph tighter in her hands, somehow not losing it in the fight. Her father’s last interaction, and no doubt the cause of his death.

She’d be back. And she would get revenge for her father, for Altea. Zarkon would pay for everything he took away from her.

 


	2. Prologue (Part 2): Collect Your Courage and Collect Your Horse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I thought it might be better to split up the Prologue, so two chapters in one day! Yay!
> 
> Chapter title from the Mumford and Sons song Dust Bowl Dance (it's a Western song, shut up)

**Present day...**

**Keith**

Keith stood at the stove, stirring his dinner. It was moments like these when he missed his brother the most. Shiro was a terrible cook, but he tried. Dare he say, Keith missed the half-burned, half-raw food Shiro tried to serve him when he was little, until one day Keith shoved his brother away from the stove and made dinner himself. He was twelve.

Six years later, and Keith’s culinary skills had improved. But those memories of Shiro determinedly trying to feed his younger brother never left him. It was just what Shiro did, take care of people. Mostly, he was good at it. Hell, the whole town was indebted to him in one way or another. It didn’t hurt that every other woman (and not a few men) were at least a little bit in love with him. Keith didn’t get it. They saw Shiro as this larger-than-life figure. A war vet, who raised his troublesome younger brother all by himself.

They didn’t understand that Shiro was a complete dork who burned any and all food, including water.

God, Keith missed him. When Shiro had first left, he ruffled Keith’s hair and told him he’d be back within a month. Kerberos was far, but he needed to help Samuel Holt get some much-needed supplies for the town. That was six months ago.

Keith pulled the stew off the stove and ladled some into a bowl. He sat at the dining table that always felt too small, but with Shiro gone was somehow too big.

Keith put his face in his hands, breathing deeply. It had been a hard six months, that was for sure. Luckily, they didn’t have a lot of crops that required a lot of labor, mostly just a small garden in the back that barely grew anything. No, their income came from breeding horses. But it’s almost impossible to run a barn by yourself, and Keith certainly couldn’t afford to hire anyone on for more than a week or two at a time.

It didn’t help that things had gotten harder even before his brother went missing. Seven months ago, a man in a very expensive suit had showed up at their little shack, offering them a lot of money to buy their land. Shiro had refused. Where else were they supposed to go? And besides, they were doing well for themselves. They had built up a reputation. And Keith was really good with the horses.

That’s when things went south. Suddenly, half their buyers were no longer interested. The other half had run into some trouble with the outlaws that had been plaguing the countryside, and could no longer afford to buy. It was a hard time, but Shiro and Keith made the most of it. Their horses were the best for a hundred miles, anyway.

But of course Shiro decided to go help out an old friend, because that’s just who he was. And now, he was gone. And Keith struggled.

Keith idly scraped his spoon against his bowl as he thought through the events of the past few weeks. He needed to find his brother, but he couldn’t afford to take a day off.

No solution was going to present itself that night, Keith decided. He washed his bowl and left it to dry. If he were being honest, he was just going through the motions. His only solace was the horses. Red, especially, was a bright spot. He had found her just outside their property, alone and more than a little bit scared. He got her some food and water, and she just hadn’t left. She was wild and spirited, though, and Keith worked hard to get her to trust him. Now, they effortlessly ran through the fields, her listening to his every command.

But even pushing Red as fast as she could go didn’t fill the emptiness left by his brother’s absence.

Keith trudged up to bed, falling asleep and dreaming of endless plains, where he was running and running, screaming for Shiro, for Red, for anybody, but he couldn’t see through the tall grass.

He woke up covered in sweat, tears drying on his cheeks.

Keith got up and went to go grab a glass of water and clean up. He was mid-pour when he heard the horses scream. The cup clattered to the floor, and Keith ran outside, pulling on his boots as he went.

He probably should’ve grabbed a gun, because even though he was shit with one, a human didn’t need to know that, and he only needed to scare off a coyote. But all he could think of was Red.

But it wasn’t a coyote that caused the horses to scream. Instead, a fierce fire was consuming the barn. Horses kicked at their stalls, trying to get free. The flames roared without mercy.

Without thinking, Keith rushed headlong into the stables, pulling his shirt up to cover his mouth and nose. He squinted through the smoke, rushing and unlocking the stalls as he went. He managed to reach Red, who was halfway through kicking the door in.

She burst through when Keith unlocked the stall. Keith tried to calm her while also directing them out of the stable. It could collapse at any minute.

But it was hard to tell where everything was. The smoke got thicker, and Keith couldn’t stop coughing enough to see.

He heard an ominous crack, and Red shoved him. He went stumbling forward, and where he had just been standing, a beam came down.

He stared wide-eyed at Red, and she tossed her head as if to say, “Yeah, I just saved your life,” before rushing out of the barn. Keith ran after her.

The cold desert air had never felt so good. It was a stark contrast to the oppressive heat of the fire.

Keith turned and stared at the barn, at the thing he and his brother worked so hard to get. Tears wet his cheeks as the horses ran out.

With an immense groan, the entire structure collapsed on itself, sparks flying up into the air like bright red stars. It was as beautiful as it was horrifying.

Something nudged his shoulder, and Keith turned to see Red next to him. She leaned her shoulder against his, and Keith took comfort in it. He had managed to save most of the horses.

But the reality of the situation hit him. He had to figure out what to do with these poor horses. They had limited pasture, and they really needed food. They could graze for a while, but that would only last so long. And with the stables gone, he had no place to put them. They’d need money for supplies to rebuild the barn. Money they certainly didn’t have.

But he couldn’t give up. That wasn’t his style.

First, he would grab some of his old tack from the basement in his house. He’d use Red to round up the rest of the horses and put them in the paddock. Tomorrow, he’d need to go into town and sell a few horses, maybe ask around to see if anyone would be willing to help him by boarding the rest of them.

But for now, Keith just stared at the smoldering ashes of the barn he and his brother built, feeling the fire still blazing in his chest.

\--

**Lance**

Lance bounded down the staircase, two steps at a time, about to take a deep breath and shout for his mother because his brother just tried to throw his shoes out the window for no good reason, but he slowed down when he didn’t hear the usual good-natured shouting from the kitchen.

Instead, he could barely make out his father’s quiet, but nonetheless concerned voice coming from the dining room.

Lance crept down the last few steps, and peered around the corner. He saw his dad sitting at the dining room table, his mother at the head next to him, and they both had furrows in their brows.

“…just don’t know what we’re going to do,” came his dad’s hushed whisper.

“I’ve been looking at the numbers, and we’ll be okay as long as we can get that last crop sold,” his mom said.

“But none of our last crop even made it to Kerberos. And this is the last one until winter.”

Lance’s mother sighed deeply. “I know, Alex,” she said in a defeated whisper.

Lance’s father grabbed her hand, running his thumb over her fingers. It was such a tender moment, but one predicated upon so much strife.

Lance knew that things weren’t going well for the McClain family. They hadn’t had as much meat, they’d been forced to do a lot more on the farm because they had to let go of a lot of the farmhands, they’d had to wear shoes that were too tight for a bit too long. And Lance was eighteen. He had known that Zarkon was causing trouble for families everywhere, and his family was no exception.

About a year ago, a man had come by, wearing an expensive suit and boots that didn’t have a speck of dust on them. He was representing Zarkon, a man interested in buying their land. But the McClain’s took pride in this patch of dirt, working hard and earning every penny. And they wanted to pass along that land to their kids, so they turned the man down.

Lance remembers his eyes flashing with something, something Lance later found out was anger, when suddenly their crops weren’t making it to the towns that needed them, stolen off the trains before they could be sold. And the McClain’s had a big family, with many hungry mouths to feed, so they felt the loss keenly. And then it happened again. And again. And Lance had absolutely no doubts that Zarkon was behind this.

To see his parents laid this low really broke his heart. Suddenly, his brother throwing his shoes out the window didn’t feel like such a big deal.

He stepped into the kitchen, and his parents looked up, surprised.

“Oh, sweetie,” his mother said, trying to discreetly wipe her eyes, “I didn’t hear you come downstairs.”

“I heard you and Dad talking,” Lance said.

His father sucked in a breath, “Son—”

“Don’t worry, I knew already,” Lance interrupted before his father could try to pretend they weren’t in trouble.

Lance’s mother smiled sadly. “Of course you did.”

“I’ve been thinking…” Lance started. He wasn’t quite sure how this would go over, but he couldn’t help but feel it was the right thing to do, even if his parents didn’t like it. “I think I’m going to leave home for a bit. Well, a while actually.”

He looked up, twisting his hands together nervously.

His parents looked even sadder, if that were possible.

“Oh, Lance, you really don’t have to worry about—”

“I know, Mom,” Lance said. “Just…just hear me out, okay?”

Lance’s dad just nodded.

Lance took a deep breath. “Whew, okay, well, I was just thinking, well, I’ve had this idea for a while now actually. You know how I’m just…really good at shooting?”

His parents both nodded, probably remembering all the times Lance and his siblings went outside to shoot, Lance struggling with his rifle, practicing until he wouldn’t miss. Or the time that they got him his own pair of shiny pistols, back when things weren’t looking so bleak. He practiced with those, too, until he could practically shoot the wings off a fly.

“Well, I thought maybe I could use it for good, you know? There are plenty of towns that need a sharpshooter, and maybe the sheriff in town could hire me as a bounty hunter or something. And if I can make it on my own, that’s one less mouth to feed. And maybe I can even catch some of the guys who are stealing from us.”

His parents looked at him with a mix of concern and pride. Lance knew in his heart that this was what he needed to do, for himself and for his family. Because he couldn’t just sit here and do nothing while his youngest siblings were left without as much to eat.

“And you guys still have Anton and Isabelle, and Cisco is gonna be old enough soon, and he already wants to help out so much.”

Lance hadn’t realized he was looking at the floor until his mother gently cupped his face and tilted it up so he would look in her eyes. Her warm brown eyes were filled with tears, but also with fondness.

“I understand, mijo. I really do,” she said softly. “You don’t have to worry about us. But if this is something you really want to do, not just for us but for yourself, I won’t stop you.”

His father joined them, taking Lance into a hug. “Your mother and I are going to worry about you, you know. But as long as you write, we’ll manage.”

Lance choked back tears as he hugged his father back. “Thank you,” he whispered.

His father finally let him go. “And son, you understand, you’ll always have a home to come back to. Don’t forget that.”

Lance smiled. “I won’t. I promise.”

“We’re proud of you, you know,” his mother said. “No matter if you catch the bad guys or not.”

Lance’s father nodded in agreement.

“Now, I know you’re eager to get going,” his mother said. And Lance couldn’t deny it. Even while they were giving him his blessing, he began bouncing on the balls of his feet. He’d be Lance the Freelancer, shooting bad guys and romancing chicks before leaving in a whirlwind. Okay, maybe romancing a few guys, too, but still. The romance of it all called to him.

“But you need to at least wait until tomorrow. We’ll help you get ready, but not without a good meal in your belly and a full night’s rest.”

Lance rolled his eyes, “Okay, mom.”

“You’ll need food and a bedroll for sure. And several canteens. And maybe a few extra blankets…oh! And I can’t forget all your ammo…”

“And don’t forget about feed and water for Blue, too,” his father chimed in.

“Wait, you have to keep Blue,” Lance said. His family needed that horse. She’d been so helpful around the farm, she was practically part of the family herself.

His parents shared a look. “We’ve got Nellie and Frank,” his father said, referring to their other two carthorses. “Besides, Blue’s yours.”

Lance couldn’t deny that. He had practically raised her, after he found her wandering their fields, trying to eat the under-ripe maize because she was so hungry. She was covered in dust and her mane and tail horribly matted. He had given her food and water, and brought her to a nearby stream to wash her off. That was when he found out how much she loved water. As soon as she saw the sparkle of the sun on the water, she took off, dragging a rather surprised young Lance with her. He hadn’t intended on getting soaked through that day, but it did help him with the washing thing.

Once she was clean, he saw how beautiful she was, her coat a gleaming dapple grey. Why anyone would let such a beauty go was beyond Lance. But he was grateful for it every day.

She really was a sweet thing, not a bad bone in her body. But she was always a little finicky when someone other than Lance tried to ride her. She was just a little…quirky. But Lance knew her well enough.

Lance realized just how much his parents were giving him, all they had given him. He knew that no matter what he did, he wouldn’t forget them. Everything he was going to do, it was for them.

“Thank you,” Lance said again, beaming up at his parents, even as tears threatened to fall.

They just brought him into a tight hug and whispered in his ear, “You’re going to be wonderful.”

Lance didn’t understand how Zarkon could do such a thing to such wonderful people. But he would make him pay for it. He’d give his parents the life they deserved.

\--

**Hunk**

Hunk waved at the last of his customers as they exited the town saloon. It had been a slow night, and he decided he should probably close early. Hunk locked the front door and made his way back to the bar and started to clean.

There had been more and more slow nights lately. Folks just didn’t have the money to spare anymore, and with the roads and railways being dangerous, the supplies Hunk needed to keep the saloon running became more and more expensive. Granted, Hunk hadn’t marked the prices up that much. He figured folks needed some normalcy in their lives. Besides, the saloon was a lucrative business when times weren’t quite so tough. He could afford to lose a little.

He sighed as he wiped down the bar. He probably couldn’t afford it for very much longer, though. He’d almost exhausted his reserves.

It wasn’t just the money thing, either. Hunk couldn’t really care less about that. What really hurt was the way the town had changed. It had become…less, somehow. The people were more subdued, less excitable. Even his friend Lance had a little less sparkle than usual recently, and for as long as Hunk had known him, Lance was nothing but sparkle.

But people were quieter, conversations more hushed and worried. The arid desert air felt thick and oppressive. The West was always dangerous, but this was a whole new game entirely. Normally, people just had to worry about good years, or the occasional rattlesnake. It was a hard life, but hard work usually paid off. But now it wasn’t about luck. People who didn’t want to sell their land suddenly had crops ruined, or hijacked off trains before they could be sold to some of the bigger cities.

Hunk moved on to mopping the floor.

No, this wasn’t about the West being a harsh place. This was about greedy men doing whatever they could to get what they wanted.

Hunk had been angry for a while, then sad. Now, he just felt exhausted. He hated seeing his town, his family so downtrodden, and all for what? A bit of land? A bit more money? It was just disgusting.

But what could a small-town saloon owner do, except try to give people a moment or two of relief, of good food and good drink. A hearty meal went a long way towards lifting their spirits, but Hunk didn’t know how much he could keep it up, when they would just come back later with darker circles under their eyes and wearier feet.

Hunk looked around, checking that he had cleaned everything that needed it. Satisfied, he turned off the lights and headed upstairs to his apartment.

He opened his bedroom door, expecting to see his girlfriend already asleep. Instead, the lights were still on, and Shay was in the closet, dragging a small bag out, stuffing some clothes inside.

“Shay?” Hunk asked quietly, not wanting to startle her.

Shay turned towards him, a sad smile on her face. “Hey, Hunk.”

Hunk looked at the beside table and saw a couple pistols, and her preferred rifle leaned up against the wall next to it.

“Another job?” Hunk asked.

Shay nodded softly. “For the McClain’s, actually. They’ve got a crop that they really can’t afford to lose, so they hired us.”

Hunk tried to smile. He loved his girlfriend, and he wouldn’t ever ask her to give up the job she really enjoyed, but being a hired guard was becoming increasingly dangerous. He always felt a pang of distress whenever she left, one that wouldn’t go away until she was safe and sound back in Garrison. He couldn’t help it, he was a worrier.

Shay brought Hunk into a tight hug, kissing his forehead.

Hunk squeezed her back, and stepped back, but not very far, still holding onto her hands.

“I’ll miss you,” he said softly.

Shay smiled, this time a happier one. “You too, love.”

Hunk kissed Shay softly on the lips. “Now, let me pack. Your clothes are gonna get all wrinkly if you keep stuffing them in there like that.”

Shay smiled wryly, obviously expecting Hunk to say that.

Hunk hated how hard Shay worked, coming home more and more tired each time, and once, horribly, with a gunshot wound that left her with a scar. But damn if he wasn’t going to support her in any way he could.

He just wished he could do something. He couldn’t stand this town’s suffering for much longer.

\--

**Pidge**

Pidge wasn’t really sure how she got in this position. She was sneaking around behind the post office, pressed up underneath the window, trying not to get caught as she tried to tap into the town’s telegraph line.

Okay, well, that was a lie. She knew exactly how they got here. Pidge had tried and failed to get a job at the post office, so now she was attempting to discreetly run a wire from the post office to their house next door. She didn’t have to do this with the phone lines—you could listen in anyway if you just picked up the phone. But the telegraph line was a little trickier. She supposed it was lucky that the Holt house was in down, and right next door. It was probably also lucky that her brother Matt also had buried a line underground for just these purposes.

They both just wanted to see if they could, they weren’t planning on actually spying on anyone.

But desperate times called for desperate measures.

Pidge had been looking for her brother and her dad for close to six months now. Everyone said that they probably died out in the desert. It wasn’t unheard of, of course, but with Shiro with them? And with Matt and her dad being certified geniuses? It sounded suspicious, even to Pidge.

She had received a letter from Matt six months ago, telling her that they should be home within the month, that they had found some interesting things at Kerberos. He even promised he would help her finish her pet project—an automaton dog.

Pidge wiped her eyes furiously. Now was not the time to get emotional, not with so much at stake.

Pidge saw the lights dim and the door lock, as the one person who worked in the post office went upstairs to bed. She clamored through the window and landed softly inside, darting quietly to the telegraph in the corner, and got to work.

Pidge was truly desperate. There hadn’t been any leads recently, much to her dismay. People had simply stopped looking, chocking it up to rattlesnakes or dehydration. The desert was harsh, after all, but the road to Kerberos was supposed to be safe. And they had had Shiro, one of the most competent people they knew, with them. There was no way they were dead. Pidge refused to believe that.

But with no new leads, Pidge had to resort to some…less than ethical means of gathering more information.

Pidge held back a shout as some sparks flew off the cord. She sucked at their fingers, just glad she didn’t get seriously electrocuted. Okay, time to try this again.

Pidge worked more carefully this time, forcing her hands steady. Finally, she twisted the last of the wires together. Pidge smiled to herself. She knew she could do it.

Halfway to the exit, the telegraph made a noise that sounded too loudly in the quiet office.

Pidge froze. She was already pushing her luck with this guy in the first place. There was no guarantee he’d be lenient with her. Shit.

It was gonna be close, but she decided to run for it. The window was still a good six feet away, but she ran at it, the floorboards squeaking with every pounding step. Pidge used her momentum to leap through the window, rolling as best she could once she reached the hard, dusty ground.

Pidge held back a wince at her probably sprained wrist, but she got up and ran the couple yards to her house.

Once Pidge closed the door, she leaned against it, listening for any sign that the postman thought anything was amiss. Fortunately, she could only hear the din from Hunk’s saloon. She breathed a sigh of relief. Mission accomplished.

She made her way into the main room, where wires criss-crossed across the space, creating a major tripping hazard, but Pidge was practiced at avoiding falling flat on her face as she picked her way across the room, to the little telegraph machine she had set up.

She sat at the desk, staring at the thing, hoping, praying it would make a sound. That maybe, just maybe, when it whirred to life with a new message, it would fill the silence that had invaded her home. Their home. She would get them back. She had to.

She pretended she didn’t notice the tears rolling down her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked this, please give it kudos and/or comments. They give me life, seriously.
> 
> Also, don't forget that I'm also on tumblr thetolkiengeek


	3. Support Your Local Gunfighter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance sets out from home to find a job, and he encounters an old rival. Wonder who it could be...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got really excited about this chapter so I wrote it instead of my personal statement. Whoops.
> 
> Anyway, lots more klance than I had originally intended, but what can I say? In my head, Lance thinks Keith is super hot in any universe.
> 
> Chapter title from a 1971 Western.
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are appreciated!

The hot desert sun beat down on Lance’s brow. He lifted his wide-brimmed hat and pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket to wipe it off. He hoped he looked ruggedly handsome, but he figured he looked more like a wet cat, sweat dripping off every pore.

Blue wasn’t faring much better. He had tried to set off around dawn, but with his family, it wasn’t an easy matter. With all the goodbyes, and the last minute supplies, and more goodbyes, Lance didn’t get going until around mid-morning. Hence having to travel to town during the worst heat of the day.

He was glad Garrison wasn’t that far. Technically, his family’s farm was still in the town limits, though that really only meant that it was about a two and a half hour’s ride away. And right now, that meant he should be coming up on the town in the next ten minutes or so.

In fact, Lance could see the buildings in the distance, a little island of civilization in the middle of the desert. He was tempted to let Blue go, rushing headlong into the town like Hell itself was on his tail. He would make a pretty dashing figure, but then again, he probably shouldn’t do that to poor Blue. But he decided that he could afford to pick up the pace a bit. He lightly squeezed her sides with his calves and she broke into a trot.

Garrison, like all other towns in the west, was a small collection of buildings in the middle of nowhere. There was some good farmland around, and a river nearby, but the town proper was dusty and dry. It sported a post office, City Hall, a bank, the Sheriff’s station, the general store, and Hunk’s saloon. Not much, but it was home.

And despite Lance having set off from his family two hours ago, he still had a ways to go before he could claim that he was well and truly away from all that he knew.

But, Lance figured, all adventures had to start somewhere. And what better place to start than with a good meal at Hunk’s saloon. And, of course, Hunk was the biggest gossip in town, so if anyone knew of any available jobs for a skilled sharpshooter like himself, it would be him.

Lance crossed into town at a steady trot, and he pulled on the reins to get Blue to slow. Except, she wasn’t exactly listening to him. In fact, was it just him, or was Blue actually getting faster?

Shit, Lance said to himself. He forgot about the water trough in the middle of town.

“Well, fuck,” Lance said, just before Blue took off.

Normally, Lance could control Blue enough that she wouldn’t take off every time she saw even a drop of water, but he had to be prepared. And Lance was decidedly not prepared. And he was even less prepared for the herd of horses already surrounding the fairly small water source.

He barely had time to shout, “GET OUT OF THE WAY!” before crashing headlong into the water.

Blue had managed to wait to unseat him until he had some nice dirty horse water to land in.

“Ugh,” Lance groaned, standing up, trying to ignore the fact that the bottom half of him was dripping. “Blue, darling, you have got to stop doing that.”

Suddenly, he was being shoved back in the water.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

Lance pushed his hat up, squinting against the sun at the guy who pushed him.

“Taking a swim, what the hell do you think I was doing?” he answered in a huff.

He hauled himself up by Blue’s stirrup and turned to face the asshole head on.

Lance should’ve just fallen back in the water for how shocked he was. It was Keith. His old rival when they all went to the school together. Lance had once shouted that he would be the best cowboy in the west, and Keith had shouted that he didn’t even know how to ride a horse. He supposed somethings just don’t change.

But damn, some things do change. Keith had really grown into his own in the past few years. He’d always been cute, but now he was downright handsome. Heavy labor looked good on him, his shoulders broad and arms well-defined. His skin was still pale, though with a tinge of red on the uncovered parts of his neck. He had let his hair grow out, too, inky blackness barely brushing his shoulders.

“You scared my horses!” Keith shouted.

Oh, right, they were in the middle of an argument.

Lance looked around. The horses looked a little wary, but mostly because he was standing in the middle of their drinking water.

“Uh yeah, they look so spooked.” Lance rolled his eyes.

Whoops. Wrong thing to say. If looks could kill, Lance would probably be shriveled up on the spot. Keith’s indigo eyes practically burned holes in Lance’s.

“Who even are you?” Keith said.

Lance was taken aback. “Who am I? Uh…the name’s Lance? We were in the same class at the school?” Keith just blinked at him, obviously not remembering him. “You know what, it doesn’t matter! What matters is that you’re yelling at me for no reason!”

“No reason?! You’re the idiot who just galloped headfirst into a bunch of horses! My horses!”

Lance couldn’t believe this guy. “You try stopping Blue when she sees water!”

Keith rolled his eyes. “If you can’t control even that horse, you probably shouldn’t be on one.”

Okay, that’s it. Lance was proud of Blue and how he had trained her. So what if he wasn’t a perfect rider? He was good enough, and he made an innocent mistake. Like Keith never fell off a horse.

“Listen here, Keith,” Lance said, poking at Keith’s chest. Oh dear, he would not be distracted by the hard muscle underneath. Nope. Wait, what was he doing? Oh, right. Yelling at this asshole. “Blue is a great horse, and you will not insult her.”

“I wasn’t insulting her. I was insulting you.”

Lance’s mouth fell open in shock. “I’ll have you know I’m a fantastic rider! Best in the family!”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I’m real impressed.”

Lance took a breath to yell at him more, when Blue nudged him, clearly done with the water. Lance seemed to remember where he was and what he was doing.

“You know what, Keith, I don’t have to prove anything to you. Let’s just forget about this and go our separate ways.”

Keith’s arms remained crossed, but he grit out a “Fine” through his teeth. Lance stepped out, pulling Blue behind him. Keith was pulling his horse behind him, a beautiful young mare with a rust-colored coat. “C’mon, Red,” Lance heard Keith whisper.

Lance pulled Blue towards Hunk’s saloon, ready to be rid of the irritatingly handsome, no wait, just irritating young man. Except Keith was going in the same direction.

“No no no, you need to stop following me,” Lance said.

“Following you? You’re following me!”

Lance groaned. “You’re going to Hunk’s, aren’t you?”

Keith seemed to realize what was happening and also groaned.

They both tied up their horses to the hitching posts outside the tavern, Lance trying to get as far away from Keith as possible. Keith had at least five horses to hitch up, so Lance took the opportunity to skedaddle and head into Hunk’s saloon.

Immediately, Lance felt the relief going from the hot sun to the cool, shaded awning. Because of the desert sun, Lance’s clothes were barely even damp, and even a quick dip in the water wasn’t enough to quite cool him off. Hunk’s saloon was a blessing. Hunk himself was a blessing.

Speaking of, Lance saw his best friend behind the bar, a row of whiskey bottles behind him, and a plate of food in front.

“Lance!” Hunk cried out in delight, maneuvering his way out from behind the bar to give Lance a bone-crushing hug.

“Hunk, my man, good to see you!” Lance said a little strained, what with the breath being squeezed out of him.

Hunk let go after a bit, and pat Lance on the back, making Lance stumble forward a bit. Hunk sometimes didn’t know his own strength.

“Not that I’m not happy to see you, but what brings you here? And why are you all wet? Ew, gross, wait, is that all sweat?”

Lance laughed as Hunk stepped further away from him. “No, buddy, Blue just took me for a surprise swim.”

Hunk laughed. “I’ve never seen a horse go that crazy for a bit of water.”

Lance shook his head. “Sometimes I don’t know what to do with her.”

“Clearly,” came a voice from the front of the saloon. Ugh, Keith had made it inside.

Lance glared daggers at him.

“Hey, Keith!” Hunk shouted enthusiastically.

Lance turned his daggers on Hunk.

Hunk, either oblivious to the tension or cheerfully ignoring it, made his way back behind the bar again. “C’mon, have a seat. I’ll get you guys some food. Then you both can tell me what brings you to this neck of the woods. Er, desert.”

Lance and Keith sat where Hunk was gesturing. And if Lance purposefully sprawled out into Keith’s personal space, well, who was to tell. Lance watched Keith’s jaw clench, and Lance smirked. Not that he was staring at Keith’s jawline or anything. Nope.

Hunk slid a plate in front of Lance and the smell filled his whole head. He wasn’t sure how Hunk did it, but he was an amazing cook. Even when Lance, who wasn’t such a terrible cook himself, followed Hunk’s exact recipe, it never turned out quite the same.

“Hunk, darling, light of my life, will you marry me?” Lance said, through a mouthful of food.

Hunk laughed. “Sorry, man, already taken.”

Lance smiled gently. “Where is my dearest Amazonian lady? I haven’t challenged her to an arm wrestling contest in ages!”

Hunk’s smile fell a little bit. “Shay’s on another job. For your parents, actually.”

Lance’s smile also fell. He knew his parents couldn’t really afford to hire her, but he supposed they couldn’t afford to not hire her either. They probably just didn’t want him to worry. Jokes on them, he’s gonna worry no matter what.

Hunk, ever thoughtful, patted him on the shoulder. He supposed if anyone understood, it would be Hunk, who had to watch his girlfriend put herself into danger more and more with each passing week.

“You know she’d beat you…again,” Hunk said.

Lance smiled more genuinely. “One of these days, Hunk, you mark my words.”

“Okay, Lance. Sure. And when that day comes, I’ll marry you, instead of Shay.”

Lance grinned. “Please, like you would ever leave Shay.”

“That’s why I said I’d marry you if you beat her in arm wrestling. Which will never, ever happen.”

Lance didn’t have it in him to even pretend to be affronted. Shay could pulverize him if she wanted. And she was so kind, that Lance probably would just let her.

Keith snorted, and Lance looked over to see the barest hint of a smile quickly being hidden. So Mr. Broody could smile. Good to know.

“So, Lance, you never really told me what brings you here. Not that I’m not glad to see you and all, but where’s the rest of the McClain clan?”

The smile Lance had been sporting earlier fell off his face, but Lance quickly recovered. “Well, actually, I was hoping you’d help me out.”

Hunk gestured for him to go on.

“Well, as you know, I’m the best shooter this side of the river,” Lance said, making finger guns.

Hunk nodded. He’d seen Lance shoot and had known it was no exaggeration.

“I figured I’d offer my services. You know, sheriff’s assistant, or even a bounty hunter or guard. I come with my own horse and everything!”

“If you can even stay on,” grumbled Keith.

“I don’t appreciate your sass, mister,” Lance said, turning on his big brother voice. “But anyway, do you know of anybody who’s hiring? Or of any criminals that need to be taken down?”

Hunk smiled at Lance’s miming of shooting someone down. “Not at the moment, but I’m sure Shay could always use an extra hand. Or, hey!” Hunk turned to Keith. “Keith, maybe Lance could help out around the barn! I know you’ve been looking for help since Shiro left.”

Oh, that’s right. Keith’s older brother, shining star of Garrison and a war vet. He’d always seemed too cool for such a little town, but everybody loved him. Lance remembered Shiro had gone missing a few months ago, right after all the trouble started.

Keith looked town, clearly trying to hold back tears. “No barn to help out around anymore, I’m afraid.”

Hunk’s face fell. “Oh my god, Keith. What happened?”

Keith took a deep breath. “Fire. A big one. Managed to get all the horses out, but…”

Lance suddenly felt really guilty for picking a fight with him. No wonder he was so mean. He had just lost everything. Well, it wasn’t completely warranted, given that Lance had no idea, but still.

  
Hunk placed his hand on Keith’s shoulder and squeezed gently.

“I just don’t know what to do at this point,” Keith said, his voice cracking. So softly that Lance could barely hear it, Keith said, “I need my brother back.”

Lance’s heart broke a little bit right there and then. He thought back to his own younger siblings. Anton, going through his moody teenager phase, where he thought the whole world was against him. Isa, a plucky young girl who hadn’t let the world telling her she couldn’t, stop her from doing what she wanted anyway. And finally, little Cisco, who just wanted to prove that he could help out as much as his older siblings. Lance wouldn’t know what he’d do without them. But, he supposed, they had to figure out what to do without him.

No, Lance refused to feel guilty about his decision. It was the right one for his family, and he knew it. He’d have to leave the nest eventually anyway. Besides, he could be more help by giving his parents one less mouth to feed.

But hell if Lance didn’t miss his family terribly. It’d only been three hours, but he already missed his brothers’ smiles, his sister’s eyerolls, and his parents’ jibing. With a fairly large family, there was never a quiet moment. Lance used to covet those. Now, he supposed, there’d be a lot of them.

Lance jumped when Keith slammed his fist on the table. “Damn Zarkon and his stupid gang! I wish they’d all rot in hell!”

“You know it was them?” Hunk asked.

“Yeah. We’d been having trouble since we refused to sell to Zarkon. Buyers dropping, some bought out. Never thought they’d go this far, though.”

Lance shook his head. “Same thing’s been happening at the farm. Except stuff’s been stolen off trains or wagons mostly.”

Keith looked at him in sympathy and gave him a slight nod. “Been happening to a lot of folks lately. We can’t prove anything, but it’s Zarkon alright.”

“Do you think he has anything to do with Shiro disappearing?” Hunk asked.

Keith sighed. “I’m sure of it, but Zarkon’s good at covering his tracks. Too good. I don’t have anything resembling any sort of evidence.”

“I do,” came a voice from the corner.

Lance turned around, not having noticed the small figure seated at a table in the back. They were toying with the bottle of beer in front of them, but it looked to Lance like it was still full.

The person stepped forward out of the shadows. They were small, probably around sixteen or so, with large glasses and spiky light brown hair.

“You’re looking for your brother? I’m looking for mine, too. And my dad.”

Lance gasped. “You’re Katie Holt?” He vaguely remembered Katie from school. She was a couple of years younger than Hunk, Keith, and himself, so he didn’t interact with her much. But he knew she was a crazy genius, just like her older brother Matt, and her dad Sam.

“Call me Pidge,” they said as they pushed their glasses up.

“What evidence?” Keith asked eagerly, the most energetic Lance had seen him since he yelled at him.

“I’ve been monitoring the phone lines,” Pidge said, “and there have been a few calls to Zarkon about jobs being done, and some suspicious stuff about train schedules.”

Lance cursed. “Scumbag.”

Keith nodded. “Scumbag indeed.” Keith’s eyes held Lance’s gaze for a second too long.

“But as I was saying,” Pidge interrupted. Lance yanked his eyes away from Keith’s violet eyes to look back at them. “It’s not enough on its own to prove Zarkon did it, but I heard him mentioning something about Kerberos and rebels. But it’s not much.”

Hunk nodded thoughtfully. “And, no offense, the big-shot lawyers won’t listen to you because you’re so young, and you illegally listened in on phone conversations.”

Pidge nodded. “Exactly.”

“I just hate that Zarkon can step all over us just because he’s got money,” Hunk said, uncharacteristically angry. “My parents lost their land early on because they couldn’t pay, and we’ve made do, but other folks aren’t so lucky.”

Lance looked down, not exactly holding back tears, but pretty close. “I don’t think I can watch my family go hungry anymore.”

“I know my brother and father are out there, somewhere. They’re alive, and I want them back,” Pidge said.

“Then it’s settled,” said Keith.

Everyone turned to him in surprise.

“What’s settled?” asked Hunk.

“We’re going after them. Pidge, from what it seems like, Zarkon’s got a good reason to want Matt, Shiro, and your dad to disappear, right?”

“Uh…yeah. Matt sent me a letter from Kerberos telling me they found something really interesting, and that he couldn’t say much more. It’s more than likely that it had something to do with Zarkon.”

Keith nodded, like it confirmed something he had already had suspicions about.

“We’ve all got a reason to want to take down Zarkon. And I think finding Shiro is the way to do it.”

“And wherever Shiro is, Matt and Sam should be there too,” Lance finished.

Keith smiled.

“So we go find Shiro?” Lance asked.

“We go find Shiro,” Pidge answered with a grin.

“Uh…guys?” Hunk said, “I hate to burst your bubble, but they’ve been looking for Shiro and the Holts for six months and have no leads. How are we supposed to know where to even start?”

Good question. Lance had been wondering that himself.

“I’ve had some ideas,” Keith said and took a breath to continue.

Unfortunately, at that moment, a bunch of townies walked in and waved at Hunk, shouting for drinks.

Hunk waved back. “Guys, maybe now’s not the best time? Keith, you’ve still gotta figure out what to do with your horses, and I’ve got customers.”

Pidge sighed. “You’re right. But we need to go after Matt.”

“I’m not saying we don’t. I’m just saying that maybe we regroup?”

Lance nodded. “Probably a good idea.”

“Meet at my ranch, sundown.” And with that Keith ran off, cornering someone at one of the tables, clearly asking for help stabling his horses.

“Well, okay then,” Lance said, pretending he wasn’t admiring how Keith nervously swept his hair back while he was trying to negotiate.

Hunk rolled his eyes. “Lance, weren’t you two arguing just a few minutes ago?”

“What? He’s hot when he’s angry.”

Hunk punched him lightly on the shoulder. “I’m just saying, don’t push his buttons on purpose.”

“Hey, I’ll have you know that he shoved me first.”

“Whatever,” Pidge said. They jumped off their barstool. “I’ll see you both at sundown.”

Hunk nodded and turned to bring the men drinks.

Lance just sat at the bar, admiring how hard his best friend worked to keep it nice. It was clean, friendly, and had the best food. But even Lance could see Zarkon taking his toll. It showed in the weariness of Hunk’s shoulders, the lack of tablecloths, and fewer bottles behind the bar.

Most of all, he could see it in the way Hunk tried his best to be the most cheerful, pleasant person in the whole room. These people were tired and thin, and Hunk pulled smiles out of even the surliest of them. These were rough times, but for the first time in a long time, Lance felt like maybe he could so something about it.

Lance looked back to Keith. That boy would change the world, Lance could feel it. There was a spark of hope kindling in all of them, and even though they were a bunch of kids, together they may be able to do more than watch their lives burn around them.

Lance smiled softly. He couldn’t wait for sundown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may have watched 3:10 to Yuma...again. So blame that for how quickly this chapter got out.
> 
> anyway, there was going to be a lot more to this chapter, but it got to 3k and I reached a pretty good stopping point, so good news for you guys (the five of you who read this anyway), that means that I've got the next chapter pretty much mapped out too. After that it's just kind of a clusterfuck. a manageable clusterfuck. maybe more like a slightly chaotic orgy? idk. anyway i'm awkward and will stop talking now.


	4. Ride Out For Revenge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang reconvenes at Keith's ranch and makes a plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote all of this in one sitting, and nothing much happens, but I'm having a lot of fun writing this, so oh well. I promise there will be more gun-slinging and action soon, but these babies just need to leave town first. 
> 
> Chapter title from a 1957 Western

By the time the sun had started to sink on the horizon, Lance was buzzing with energy. By all rights, he should be exhausted. After Keith traipsed off with his horses, Hunk had flitted about, serving people food and drinks, and he had found Lance a quick job. The store-owner down the street needed help unloading a new wagon of supplies for the town, and while he didn’t pay Lance much, he was able to give him some more ammunition, and given the nature of their new mission seemed like a good idea.

The more Lance thought about it, the angrier he got. All of this, every single bad thing that happened to him, to his family, was because of Zarkon. Not exactly what he had in mind when he told his parents he would try and take out the bad guys, but he couldn’t help but feel this was exactly where he was meant to be.

Lance rubbed Blue’s neck affectionately. Despite what Keith thought, she really was a good horse. Quick on her feet and fiercely protective, she was the best horse Lance could ask for. Even if she tossed him in gross horse water in front of cute boys. Annoying boys. Whatever.

Lance smiled as he approached Keith’s ranch. He saw Red tied out front next to Hunk’s familiar horse. Saffron was probably the biggest horse Lance had ever seen, and Hunk’s family had used him to pull farm equipment a few years back, and they had meant to sell him along with the land, but Hunk begged them to keep him. Hunk wasn’t really big on horses, but Saffron was special. Not the fastest mover, but the epitome of a gentle giant and perfect for Hunk.

Next to Saffron was a little pony Lance didn’t recognize. Huh. Must be Pidge’s. Lance dismounted and tied Blue up next to the little thing. Which proceeded to try and steal Lance’s guns from his saddlebag.

“Oh no you don’t! I see you!” Lance said, pushing the pony’s head away with his hand.

He swore the pony rolled her eyes.

“Oh please, what does a pony want with a gun anyway? You don’t have opposable thumbs!”

“You make a habit of talking to horses?” came a voice from the porch.

Lance glanced up. “Hey there, Pidge! This your pony?”

Pidge smirked. “Yeah, that’s Emmie. She thinks she’s clever, and I like to think so too.”

“Well your pony,” Lance said, trying to doge Emmie’s playful nips, “thinks she can steal my stuff.”

Pidge just laughed. “Just get inside already. Hunk made dinner.”

Lance didn’t think he could get up to the front door so fast, but with the promise of Hunk’s cooking…

Lance didn’t know what he expected from Keith’s home, but this certainly wasn’t it. It was…downright cozy. There were even some doilies over the couches. Huh.

“Nice place,” Lance said, and he even meant it. “Who decorated? Your girlfriend?”

Keith looked up from where he was setting the table in the dining room. “You commenting on my doilies?”

Lance’s eyes widened in surprise. “Your doilies? Well I’ll be damned.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I’m just full of surprises.”

“You sure are…” Lance said under his breath as he looked around. He had entered through the front, which seemed to be the living room, simply furnished. Directly adjacent was the kitchen and dining room, with a small table set with old but good china. Lance suspected that most of the bedrooms were upstairs.

It all felt lived in, familiar in a way Lance wasn’t expecting. Honestly, that just made Shiro’s absence all the more apparent. It was a lot of house for one boy.

Lance sniffed the air. “Hunk, buddy, that smells absolutely divine.”

Hunk smiled from the stove, where he was stirring some kind of stew. “Lance! Perfect timing! How was Mr. Harrison?”

“Oh Mr. Harrison is as paranoid as always. Thanks for getting me that job, by the way. I owe you big time.”

Hunk just waved his hand in the air. “It’s no trouble at all. Anything for my best friend.”

“Aww, you’re making me blush,” Lance said, clutching his face dramatically.

That brought out a small chuckle from both Hunk and Pidge.

Not that Lance was looking, but he swore he saw the corner of Keith’s mouth quirk up just a little bit.

“Not to interrupt your little bromance, but maybe we should get to work?” Keith said.

“Nuh-uh cowboy,” Lance said. “My mama always said never make important decision on an empty stomach.”

Keith rolled his eyes a bit, but there was a soft smile there.

“Why can’t we talk and eat?” Pidge asked.

“Because that would be an insult to our precious Hunk’s wonderful cooking!” Lance said, not believing what he was hearing.

“Well, I don’t really care, but we do need to eat,” Hunk said, handing Keith, Pidge, and Lance plates full of stew.

Lance didn’t really care either, but with that heavenly smell coming from the food, he suspected he wouldn’t be able to think until he had inhaled at least three plates. And by the silence at the table, it went the same for everyone else.

After everyone had eaten their fill, and pitched in to clean up, Keith finally spoke up.

“Okay, so we should probably talk about how we’re gonna find Shiro and the Holts.”

Pidge nodded. “You mentioned that you might know where they are? How?”

“Well, I had my suspicions but I wasn’t sure until you mentioned that letter from Matt.” Keith reached behind the table and pulled out a map.

“So we’re here, right?” Keith said, pointing to a place just outside of Garrison. He dragged his finger along a the map until he was pointing to a city several miles off. “Kerberos is here. Now, most people take the main road, which makes sense. That’s what Shiro and the Holts were planning to take. I keep hearing about people being ambushed there, so I thought maybe that’s what happened to them.”

Lance nodded, following. “But since you know from Pidge that they made it to Kerberos, you think they either got ambushed in Kerberos, or on their way back.”

Keith looked up in surprise. “Well, yeah.”

Lance held his gaze. Keith’s indigo eyes danced in the lamplight.

Suddenly, Keith cleared his throat and looked away. “Anyway, I suspect that they managed to leave Kerberos but knew they were being followed.”

“So they’d probably take a less obvious route home,” Pidge chimed in.

Keith nodded. “I was looking for other ways back, and the most likely seems to be this one.” He traced his finger along the map, following a river.

“But what about this valley? That’s a popular ambush spot, even I know that,” Hunk said, pointing to the map.

“That’s where I was stuck, too,” Keith said.

“Was stuck?” Pidge asked.

“Until I saw this.” Keith brought out another, older map, and put it on top of the newer one.

He pointed to a town out of the path of the valley.

Lance squinted. “Arus? Never heard of it.”

“It was abandoned about fifty years ago, and not many people remember it, but these are Shiro’s maps, and it’s just outside of the valley. Most people cross through because there isn’t another water source if you go around, but if Shiro knew about this, then it’s more than likely he would have tried to stop here.”

“But that still begs the question, where are they? If they made it to Arus, then why didn’t they make it home?” Pidge asked. It was a good point.

Keith shook his head. “I don’t know. But I have a feeling we need to go to Arus to find out.”

Lance glanced around at the others. Pidge looked lost in thought, and Hunk looked a little skeptical. And Keith looked like he was going to go after his brother whether he had company or not. Well, far be it from Lance to back down from a challenge.

“Sounds fun, let’s go!”

Keith looked taken aback. “Just like that?”

Lance shrugged. “It’s as good a lead as anyone’s had in the past six months, and if they’ve really found a way to take down Zarkon, it’s worth it to look, isn’t it?”

“If there’s any chance to find my family, I want to take it,” Pidge said, determined.

“To Arus, then?” Hunk asked.

“To Arus,” Keith said, something like hope in his eyes.

“Okay, but like, not right now, right?” Hunk said, nervously glancing outside. “Because it’s really dark, and I do NOT want to be sleeping outside longer than I have to.”

Lance laughed. “Of course, buddy. I’m sure Keith-y boy will let us crash here for the night?”

Keith looked a little irritated at Lance’s nickname, but he nodded. “I’ll get you guys some pillows and blankets,” and he vanished upstairs.

—

They had settled in for the night, deciding to get started at first light. Arus was a ways off, and Keith and Pidge wanted to get there as soon as they could.

But as much as Lance wanted to get a good night’s rest before setting off on what could be the most epic journey of his life, he just couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t Hunk’s snores, or Pidge’s murmuring that kept him up. He was used to the noise, having shared rooms with his siblings basically all his life.

Maybe it was that the sounds were different. It was his first night away from home, and nothing was familiar anymore. God, had it really only been that morning that he had left home? At least now, he had a better plan than just hoping for the best.

It didn’t seem to help him fall asleep, though.

Finally, Lance gave up. He got up, careful not to wake up Hunk or Pidge who were sleeping on the couches next to him. He crept out of the living room and went out the back door.

He found Keith already outside, leaning on the back porch, staring out at the ruins of his barn.

“Wow, Zarkon really doesn’t mess around, does he?” Lance said, without really thinking.

Keith sighed. “No, he doesn’t.”

Lance came up beside Keith, mimicking his stance and leaning against the railing.

“I don’t know if I said this already, but I’m really sorry,” Lance said. He meant it. No one deserved to have their family and their livelihood taken away just because they didn’t want to give a bigshot more land.

Keith’s breath was a bit shaky, but Lance didn’t bother mentioning it. “Yeah. Me too.”

They stood in silence, in the cool Western night, gazing out at ruins of Keith’s life, just sharing in a moment of mourning. Keith for the things he had lost already, and Lance for the things he had left behind.

“You know, I helped my dad build a barn,” Lance said, interrupting the silence.

“You? You’re so scrawny,” Keith said.

Lance brought his hand to his chest in mock offense. “Excuse me, I grew up on a farm. I am lean. Not scrawny.”

Keith chuckled a little bit. “Sure.”

“I’ll have you know, I was a big help! And I was about to offer to help you rebuild your barn, but you were rude to me, so I don’t think I will.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Yeah, okay. And you expect me to believe you’d just help me out of the goodness of your heart?”

Lance laughed and nudged Keith with his shoulder. “I wouldn’t do it for free, horse boy. But I might be convinced to do it at a discount, if you feed me.” He threw a wink in there for good measure.

Keith just raised his eyebrows, trying to look unimpressed, but there was a glint in his eyes. Lance counted that as a victory. They turned back to the barn, looking up at the stars.

“Sure.” Keith said eventually.

“What?”

“I’ll hire you. After we find Shiro and take down Zarkon, of course.”

“Of course,” Lance said, smiling a little bit despite himself.

“C’mon. We should try to get some sleep. It’ll be dawn in a couple of hours,” Keith said, turning back to the house.

“Yeah, okay,” Lance said.

When he climbed back under the blankets, his heart felt just a little bit lighter. There was still a lot of work to be done, Keith’s barn was still gone, and Lance’s family was still struggling. But now, things didn’t seem so impossible with the promise of a future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost forgot! I'm working on a playlist. Lots of Mumford and Sons, Western themes, and a ton of music from Wynonna Earp. So keep an eye out for that!


	5. Young Guns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang finally sets out for Arus.
> 
> Also, Klance. Such klance. Much flirt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry for the delay. But I'm finally done with my finals and applications!!! Woohoo! (so theoretically I should have more time for this fic but we'll see).
> 
> As a reward, you guys get an extra long chapter! I'm gonna be honest, this isn't my favorite, but I tried my hand at writing in Keith's POV, so I hope you'll forgive me. 
> 
> Chapter title from a 1988 Western

Keith wakes up just before dawn’s rosy fingers reach across the horizon. He was used to waking up before basically any reasonable human should just to pick up some of the slack ever since Shiro left. Except now, there was no barn to putter around, and basically only Red to feed. Well, and his guest’s horses. The thought jolted Keith out of bed. After six months, six damn long months, he was finally going after his brother. And he wasn’t alone.

To be honest, Keith didn’t know what he thought about suddenly having three more people along for the ride. Especially if one of those people was Lance McClain. When he had pictured going after Shiro, he had pictured it more as a heroic, solo vengeance thing. He didn’t picture a determined sixteen year old genius or an anxious barkeep accompanying him. And he most certainly did not picture a bubbly, obnoxious, extroverted Lance saying “Sounds fun!” and just going along with it.

But he supposed Lance had his own reasons for wanting to help take down Zarkon. Keith had already lost everything, and Lance still had everything to lose. He couldn’t help but recall Lance’s piercing blue eyes when he said “I’m sorry.” There was so much sincerity in those two words that should’ve felt empty. And then he just offered to help him rebuild his barn. What was that all about?

And why the hell had Keith agreed to it?

A problem for another day, he supposed as he crept downstairs and out the door.

By the time Keith had gone to the cellar and hauled the last of the feed out and fed the horses, Hunk had started on breakfast. He walked inside to the heavenly smell of frying bacon and the quiet murmuring of Hunk and Pidge. Lance was still collapsed on one of the couches in the living room, softly snoring.

Keith rolled his eyes and gently kicked the sleeping boy. Okay, maybe not-so-gently.

Lance startled so badly that he tumbled off the couch and onto the floor.

“Jeez, horseboy, was that really necessary? I was awake!” Lance said as he tried to disentangle himself from the blankets.

“Uh huh,” Keith said, lacing his voice with sarcasm. “Sure you were, which is why you were snoring.”

Lance had the audacity to look offended. “Excuse you, I do _not_ snore.”

“Sorry to break it to you, buddy, but you do,” Hunk said, peering out from the kitchen.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure you snore louder than the horses,” Pidge chimed in.

Lance rolled his eyes. “Okay I get it, it’s Make Fun of Lance Day.”

“Isn’t that every day?” Keith said wryly, unable to control the way the corner of his mouth quirked up a bit at Lance’s affronted gasp. This boy was just too easy to rile up.

“Ha ha, very funny Keith,” Lance said as he finally stood up. He stretched his arms over his head, and Lance’s stomach peeked out from where his shirt had ridden up a little bit. Keith didn’t stare. He didn’t.

But if, hypothetically, Keith were staring, he’d have noticed how unfairly attractive a sleep-mussed Lance was. Messy hair, slightly wrinkled clothes, and a bit of lingering bleary-eyes. He looked soft like this, kinda like the Lance that came outside and just stood next to him quietly. And Keith didn’t miss the fact that Lance wasn’t lying when he said he wasn’t scrawny. Every time Lance stretched, those muscles flexed, and the version Keith that noticed those kinds of things swooned a little bit on the inside. Hypothetically.

Much to this hypothetical Keith’s dismay, Lance tucked his shirt back into his pants, and Keith decided now was a good time to grab breakfast from Hunk.

When Lance joined them in the kitchen, any trace of sleep had vanished. His hair had been smoothed down to an artful mess, rather than a rat’s nest. He had also put his whole outfit back together. His button-down was well-worn and was that kind of off-white you only get from years of exposure to desert air, and it was tucked into soft brown pants. Over top, he wore a well-fitted navy waistcoat and had a matching bandanna around his neck. His belt was slung across his waist, and Lance twirled his pistols artfully (and completely unnecessarily, Keith might add) and fit them into the holsters in a smooth movement. (Hypothetical Keith thought this move was completely necessary).

“Now,” Lance said, dodging around Hunk to grab a piece of bacon, “if you don’t mind, I’m going to do a little target practice.”

With that, he flitted out of the back door.

Keith shook his head as Pidge turned to Hunk and said, “Is he always like this?”

Hunk shrugged, “Yeah, for pretty much as long as I’ve known him. He’s just…” Hunk waved his hands vaguely in the air. “He’s just Lance.”

“Is he really that good of a shot?” Keith asked. To be honest, he couldn’t picture a guy like Lance being some kind of gun prodigy.

“Go see for yourself,” Hunk said, not a little mysteriously as he handed Keith his breakfast.

—

Keith walked outside, careful to announce his presence. Lance struck him as a jumpy person, and he didn’t want to risk being shot at because someone was a little trigger happy.

Lance had set up some old tin cans on the paddock fence about thirty yards out, and he was currently loading his pistols with an ease that could only come with years of practice.

“So, sharpshooter,” Keith said, sauntering over, “Gonna show me what you got?”

Lance turned and smiled wryly at Keith. “I don’t think you’re ready to witness all this awesomeness. They call me Cupid because every time I shoot, another lady can’t help but fall for me.” He shot Keith a wink.

Keith couldn’t help it, he just laughed, full bellied and loud. He couldn’t remember the last time he had laughed like that. “I’m pretty sure that’s only in your dreams.”

Lance just shook his head in mock solemnity. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Just shoot the goddamn cans already!”

Lance rolled his eyes but lined up the shot, holding only one of the pistols with both of his hands. His hands were steady, one eye closed, and Keith could see the slow rise of his chest as he breathed in. As he breathed out, he squeezed the trigger, and one of the cans wobbled and fell over.

Keith quirked his brow. Not bad.

Then, Lance lined up the next shot. Another can down. And another. Lance picked up the pace, and soon, there was next to no space between shots. In the blink of an eye, the last three cans went down.

Lance lowered his gun and turned to Keith. “Impressed?”

Keith definitely was, but the thing that came out of his mouth was, “Bet you can’t so it with two pistols at once.”

Lance’s eyes sparkled at the challenge. “Set up the targets, and we’ll see.”

Keith ran up and set up the cans again. He looked back a couple of times, just to make sure that Lance wasn’t going to shoot him for shits and giggles. Not once did Lance aim his gun at Keith, even as a joke.

“Hey, I’m not going to shoot you, but if you don’t set up those targets soon, I might be tempted!” Lance called out.

Keith shook his head and propped the cans back up on the fence and ran back to Lance.

“Okay, Sharpshooter. Wow me,” Keith said, feigning indifference.

Lance just smirked.

Before Keith knew it, Lance lifted both guns and took a small breath. The sound of gunshots and the smell of powder filled the air, and in a matter of seconds, all of the cans had clattered to the ground.

Keith snapped his mouth shut, not realizing his jaw had fallen open. When Lance turned back to him and pushed up his hat, there was a gleam in his eye that Keith hadn’t seen before.

Keith didn’t realize he had a thing for guys with guns.

“And you doubted me,” Lance said. “I know my guns better than I know myself.”

“What about a gun you’ve never shot before?” Keith asked.

“I mean, obviously every gun has its quirks, so I’m not gonna be perfect, but I can shoot pretty much anything.”

“What about a rifle?”

Lance tilted his head. “What kinda rifle are we talking about here?”

Keith gestured for Lance to wait as he ran back inside the house. He ran into the living room and pulled off the gun that was resting above the mantle.

When Keith crossed back into the yard, Lance looked up and his eyes widened. “Is that a Colt-Burgess rifle?!”

Keith shrugged. It was his dad’s gun, and Keith never really bothered to ask him about it when he was alive. He really only used it to scare off coyotes and the occasional intruder. “I think so. Why?”

“I’ve only ever shot a Winchester. Colt usually makes revolvers, like these babies here,” Lance gestured to the guns in his holsters. “Hunk swears by his Winchester, but I’ve always wanted to try a Colt rifle.”

Keith it over. “Well now’s your chance.”

Lance smiled like Keith had just handed him the world instead of an old gun.

“Let’s see what this baby can do,” Lance said, raising the rifle into position.

He took aim at one of the cans and fired. The gunshot was so much louder than the revolvers, but Keith didn’t flinch. None of the cans fell down, but the one to the left wobbled a bit.

Lance didn’t let this deter him, though. He took aim again, and this time, the can flew off the fence. In five successive shots, Lance pulling the lever-action reload in a fluid motion, all the cans fell down, knocked into the field with the force of the rifle.

Lance laughed. “That’s amazing!” He moved to hand the rifle back.

Keith shook his head. “It’s yours. I’m useless with guns, anyway.”

Lance’s jaw dropped. “And you’ve survived this long? How?”

Keith grinned and pulled out a set of long knives.

If Keith didn’t know better, he could have sworn that Lance let out a little squeak.

At that moment, Pidge burst out through the screen door. “Hey losers, stop wasting ammo and help us get ready to go!”

Keith rolled his eyes, and he and Lance walked back towards the house.

“It’s called warming up, Pidge. You should try it sometime,” Lance said as he passed Pidge.

“Hunk doesn’t need to show off with his shotgun,” Pidge said grumpily. As Keith crossed into the house, he caught some muttering that sounded suspiciously like, “Weird flirting.”

He decided not to mention it.

—

Their whole “leave at dawn” thing didn’t really work out, but Keith couldn’t say he was very surprised. Keith decided to pack light, but Hunk had several different cooking pots, and not a few different spices. He was a bit worried about the poor horse, but Saffron barely noticed.

All in all, once they were armed, packed, and ready to go, it was well into the morning. They were going to have to stop for the night anyway, but Keith still felt antsy by the time they set off. He knew he’d find answers at Arus. Shiro was so close, he could feel it. For the first time in six months, Keith had something to work towards, but that also meant that he chafed at every delay.

So suffice to say, he was feeling a bit cranky by the time midday hit.

“Hey Keith,” Lance said from his horse.

Keith tried to keep from rolling his eyes. Lance’s voice was really beginning to grate on his nerves.

“Hey Keith,” Lance said again, when Keith refused to answer. “Keith. Keeeeeeith. Keithy boy. Keith.”

Keith snapped. “What, Lance?!”

“Oh, I forgot.”

It took everything Keith had not to jump from his horse and strangle Lance right then and there. Red sensed his agitation and tossed her head a bit. Keith reminded himself that he needed to keep a level head if he was going to find Shiro.

“Patience yields focus,” he muttered under his breath.

“Oh! Keith, I remembered what I was gonna ask you!” Lance said.

“That’s nice,” Keith said, trying to keep Lance from answering.

Lance cheerfully ignored this. “How’d you pick such a tragic haircut?”

“How’d you pick such a tragic face?” Keith shot back.

“Damn!” Pidge shouted gleefully from Emmie.

“Didn’t ask for your input, shortstack,” Lance glared at Pidge.

“Nah, Keith got you pretty good right there,” Hunk said, forever the honest man.

“Hunk!” Lance said, and his voice cracked a bit.

“What? Just telling the truth, man.”

Lance gave a little harrumph and crossed his arms grumpily. “Well, at least I didn’t name my horse something stupidly obvious like Red.”

“Uh…Lance?” Hunk said. “You might wanna think about what you just said for a sec.”

“Wh—oh.” Lance said, his face falling.

It was quiet in the group for a moment, but then, Hunk chuckled, and Pidge started cackling so hard she fell off her horse. Keith tried really hard not to laugh, but it came bubbling up unexpectedly from inside him, and soon he was laughing so hard, he nearly fell off too.

When Keith caught his breath, he looked up at Lance. Lance’s face was flushed with red, whether from the heat or embarrassment or something else, Keith didn’t know. But Lance gave out a little chuckle, too.

“You know,” Lance said, turning back to the little-used trail before them, “you look different when you laugh. Lighter, somehow.”

Keith didn’t really know what to say to that, so he said nothing. If someone remarked on how red _his_ face was, he could always say it was the noon heat.

—

The rest of the day kind of followed the same pattern. The path was like most in the West: dusty, with some scraggly shrubs to add a little variety. Mostly, what happened was Lance would try and get a rise out of Keith, mostly succeed, and then end up humiliating himself, much to the amusement of Hunk and Pidge. All the while, Keith would try not to smile, or strangle Lance. Either one.

The stopped for the night and made camp, lighting only a small fire. They weren’t supposed to be in dangerous territory yet, and nobody knew they even left town, much less where they were headed. But they couldn’t take the risk, not with their mission being so important.

Hunk made dinner, but the light-hearted teasing seemed to have faded with the last of the daylight. The only sounds were the crackling of the fire, the scraping of forks on their tin plates, and the distant cries of nocturnal animals.

Once they had finished their dinner, they got ready for bed.

“I’ll take first watch,” Keith said as he unrolled his blankets.

Everyone blinked up at him in surprise.

“First watch?” Hunk asked.

Keith just stared at him, a little confused. “Yeah, we each take turns and help guard the camp.”

“Is that really necessary?” Lance said, clearly ready for a full night’s sleep.

“…yes?” Keith said, growing a little more frustrated. “We’re on our own out here, and we need to be on our guard. Do you think Zarkon and his gangs care about beauty sleep?”

Lance looked taken aback. “Okay, okay, I get it. Just wake me up when it’s my turn.”

With that Lance, turned over and promptly fell asleep. Pidge just looked up and said, “We’ll give him the last watch.”

Hunk nodded and also turned over to fall asleep.

Keith got up and walked to a nearby rock to keep watch. The desert air was cool, but the rock still held warmth from the day. This far out in the desert, you could see so many stars. It felt like the sky was crushing him.

Keith felt lost in his own thoughts. It’s one thing, being on a horse, ready to ride out somewhere. It feels important, like he’s doing something. But sitting, just staring at a small fire out in the middle of nowhere, he’s just a lonely little boy, doomed to wander the desert in search of his brother forever.

He heard footsteps behind him, and he whirled around, whipping his knives out.

He breathed a sigh of relief and lowered his weapons. “Hey Pidge.”

“Sorry. Shouldn’t’ve sneaked up on you like that,” Pidge said as she walked around and sat on the rock next to Keith.

“Probably not, but it’s fine.” Keith resheathed one of his knives but kept his dagger laid across his lap.

Keith sat there awkwardly, neither him nor Pidge saying anything. He fidgeted with his dagger.

“So…uh…” Keith started, just to break the silence, but he didn’t really know what he was going for. He was never very good at the talking thing.

“Couldn’t sleep,” Pidge said tiredly.

“Oh,” Keith said.

Pidge sighed. “It’s just so…weird out here.”

Keith cocked his head. “Weird how?”

“I’ve always lived in town, and I can’t remember a time when I didn’t have at least some gears to mess with, but out here, it’s all just…land. I guess I don’t have anything to distract me from the fact that my father and brother have been missing for _six months_ , and the most dangerous man in the west is after them.”

Keith nodded. He couldn’t lie and say he understood completely, having lived pretty much alone on a fairly isolated piece of land for a while now, but that fear? Yeah, Keith understood that just fine.

Pidge cast her eyes to the ground. “What if we never find them?”

Keith’s heart clenched. He couldn’t pretend the thought had never crossed his mind, that Shiro really was just gone forever. He couldn’t pretend that everything would turn out okay. He couldn’t pretend that he didn’t have nightmares about finding Shiro’s body rotting in the desert heat.

“I honestly don’t know, Pidge,” Keith said, sighing a bit. “I was barely surviving before, and now with the barn gone…”

Pidge scuffed the dirt with her foot. “I just know that whatever happens, I don’t want to be alone anymore.”

Keith didn’t know what to say to that. He’d always been kind of a loner, but he still felt Shiro’s loss keenly. Poor Pidge. Even though she was only a couple of years younger than they were and several years wiser, she was still just a kid. They all were.

“I’m just glad we’re finally doing something,” Pidge said, ghost of a smile on her face. “Even if it leads us nowhere, at least we tried, right?”

Keith smiled softly back. “You know, I’ve thought about finding Shiro for months now, but I never imagined it would turn out quite like this.”

Pidge laughed. “You’re telling me. But Lance and Hunk? They’re good people. And I have a good feeling about you, too.”

Keith’s heart warmed. Most people were put off by his attitude and his general misanthropic living habits, so Pidge’s words meant more than he could say.

“You won’t be alone,” Keith finally said.

“Huh?” Pidge said, a little confused.

“You’re afraid of being alone, but you won’t. You’ve got all of us now. Besides, I’m not sure Lance would leave any of us be.”

Pidge smirked and side-eyed Keith. Oh no, Keith didn’t like that look. “He certainly wouldn’t leave you alone, especially when you egg him on like you do.”

“I do not!” Keith protested.

Pidge’s smirk grew wider. “You sure about that? ‘Cuz from here, it seems like you enjoy the attention.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Whatever, Pidge. Think what you want, doesn’t change the fact that I can’t stand him.”

“Whatever you gotta tell yourself, Keith.”

Keith smiled and resumed scanning the landscape. He and Pidge just sat there for a little while in silence, basking in a newborn friendship.

Finally, Pidge got up.

“Thanks, Keith,” she said.

“For what?”

“For being my friend.”

Keith just smiled back. “Goodnight, Pidge.”

—

Keith woke up just as Lance was beginning to shake Hunk awake. Pidge was already up, fiddling with something in Emmie’s saddle.

Keith turned and began packing. By the time he had rolled up his blankets and saddled up Red, everyone else had pretty much gotten ready to go.

They mounted up, and Hunk passed around some bread and cheese to eat as they made their way to Arus.

The morning chill had already vanished, and Keith groaned inwardly. The sun had barely crested the horizon, and he was already sweating. It was going to be a long road to Arus.

The blessed silence of early morning fatigue seemed to burn off as quickly as the night chill, much to Keith’s dismay. It was not that he disliked any of them. Quite the opposite in fact. Besides the fact that Hunk and Lance both had guns and knew how to use them, and that Pidge was a certified genius and was probably thinking three moves ahead of them at all times, they were, as Pidge said, good people.

It was just that Keith valued his quiet time, and these people were definitely not quiet.

“Ooooh, what’s that?” Hunk said, leaning over Saffron to try and grab something from Pidge.

“Hey!” Pidge said, smacking Hunk’s hand away. “Don’t touch my stuff!”

Hunk snatched his hand away. “But what is it?”

Pidge rolled her eyes and pulled out the thing Keith had seen her fiddling with earlier. It looked kinda funny, a fairly small metal device with a coil of rope wrapped around the inside. At the end of the rope was a little hook. “It’s a weapon I’ve been working on.”

“Aww, it’s so cute!” Lance exclaimed.

Pidge pointed it at him and pulled a trigger. The thing fired at Lance and wrapped itself around him, binding his arms. Blue kept walking like nothing was happening.

Pidge smiled. “Yeah, it is pretty cute.”

Lance grumbled and Pidge pressed another trigger that loosened the rope and allowed him to struggle free.

All the while, Keith looked out along their path, the sounds of the other three fading into the background. He couldn’t see Arus yet, but that didn’t mean much. They were still probably at least a few hours out. Waves of heat radiated off the desert. Something didn’t sit right with Keith, but he didn’t see anything amiss, and Red hadn’t alerted him to anything. Though with all the noise the other three were making, she might not’ve been able to sense much at all.

Keith brushed off the feeling, though he didn’t lower his defenses. He kept checking the various knives he had stored on his person. Two in holsters on the front of Red’s saddles, one under the pommel, two more in the back. His dagger strapped to his back, the two in his thigh holsters. He had an extra one strapped under his left arm, and two more little stilettos in his boots. Overkill? Maybe. But he was not about to let the lack of a gun leave him defenseless.

A few more hours passed. Hunk passed around some more provisions for lunch, and they ate in the saddle. Lance complained about saddle sores, and Keith made a jab at his horse riding abilities. Pidge, Hunk, and Lance kept being loud, and Pidge continually had to keep Hunk away from her stuff.

It should’ve felt just like the ride yesterday, except the uneasiness never left Keith. It curled up in the pit of his stomach like a rattlesnake. The closer they got to Arus, the more tense Keith got.

Finally, he snapped.

“Could you guys please shut up!”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure, let’s all ride in complete silence. That’ll make the time pass quickly.”

Keith clenched his jaw. “I’m serious, Lance!”

“Well not all of us can be tall, dark, and broody.”

Keith swung around in the saddle to glare at Lance. “I do not brood.”

“Says the brooder.”

Keith looked to the sky for help. “Oh wow, Lance. You really showed me.”

But Lance wasn’t done. He pulled his hat over his eyes, and hunched over in his saddle. He dropped his voice in a terrible approximation of Keith’s. “Hi I’m Keith and all I do is sit around and play with knives and brood.”

Keith was baffled. “I do not sound like that!”

“Uh…guys?” came Hunk’s voice. But Keith didn’t want to hear it.

“Stay out of this Hunk!”

Lance glared at Keith. “Hey, don’t yell at Hunk!”

“No, really guys,” Hunk said again, sounding more worried.

“I’ll yell at whoever I want to!” Keith said. At this point, all that tension and uneasiness that had been building up in him finally had someplace to go, and he wasn’t even thinking about what he was saying.

“Hi, I’m Keith and I’m a loner who yells at anyone who’s nice to him,” Lance said.

“Hi, I’m Lance and I don’t know how to deal with my own insecurities so I make fun of other people,” Keith said back.

For the first time since the fight began, Lance actually looked angry. “Hi, I’m Keith and all I do is sit around and feel sorry for myself because my brother disappeared and I have no friends.”

“Hi, I’m Lance, and I—”

“GUYS!” yelled Pidge.

Lance and Keith both turned to her and shouted, “WHAT?!”

Pidge pointed in front of them.

On the horizon, lit by the late afternoon sun, was the town of Arus. But that wasn’t what Pidge had been pointing too. Blocking their path was a line of seven men on horses, and they did not look happy. One of them had a gun pointed at the sky.

They saw the smoke before they heard the crack of the gunshot.

“Well, shit,” said Lance, already clicking back the hammers on his revolvers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! My first cliffhanger! But don't worry. I'm super excited to write the next chapter, and I have it all mapped out already! Gunslinging action coming soon to an AO3 near you! Well, soon-ish. Christmas and all that.
> 
> Man, getting them from point A to point B is hard. There were a few points where I feel like I needed to have a chapter break, but I don't like having chapters that are less than 1,000 words, and I really wanted to finally get this plot rolling. Hence, sacrificing a bit of flow for some good old-fashioned plot setup.
> 
> Also, if you're curious, Lance's revolvers are Colt 1851 Navy (previously known as a Ranger) Revolvers. Hunk shoots a standard Winchester repeating rifle. I know next to nothing about guns, I shoot with a bow, so everything I know about guns is from Wikipedia. Also, all these guns are from different parts of the 19th century, but this is the mythic West and I mostly like the ~aesthetic~


	6. Ride or Die

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk, Lance, Keith, and Pidge won't let a handful of men get between them and Arus, but these men aren't going to make it easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry about the wait, but I wanted to make sure I was doing this scene justice, and that meant rewriting it a few times. Action sequences are really fucking hard to write, but I hope it's worth it the wait!
> 
> Chapter title from a 2005 movie

**Keith**

Keith felt the crack of the gunshot in his bones. That thread inside him that had been pulled taut with that feeling of foreboding thrummed. His blood buzzed with adrenaline when the heard the spin-click-click of Lance loading his revolvers.

Red felt it too. The gunshot hadn’t startled her. On the contrary, she pawed impatiently, as if asking Keith _Are we just gonna let those guys get away with that?_

Not if Keith had a say in it.

Though he had to squint against the setting sun, Keith glared at the seven men.

They hadn’t moved since firing that first shot, but Keith looked at their horses. Even from this distance, he could tell they were itching to run.

“Who _are_ those guys?” Pidge asked, trying to get a skittish Emmie under control.

“I don’t know, but they look like bad news,” Keith said, pulling a couple of knives from his belt.

“But they’re not firing on us,” Hunk said. “Maybe they just want to talk.”

“Something tells me they’re not here to talk,” Lance said, gesturing to the men with his gun.

Keith looked out at them, the only things standing between him and Arus, the only things stopping him from finding his brother.

“Fucking hell,” Pidge said.

Sure enough, they had gotten tired of just standing around, and began pushing their horses forward and leveling guns at the four teenagers.

“Shit, let’s move!” Lance yelled, wheeling Blue around and kicking her off in the opposite direction.

The other two followed, Hunk and Pidge racing off as quickly as a draft horse and a little pony could.

Keith growled in frustration and wrenched Red away from the action, tapping her sides and urging her after the cowards he was beginning to call his friends.

In no time at all, Red caught up with the rest of them.

“Arus is that way!” Keith yelled over the pounding of hooves and the clattering of pots from Hunk’s horse, pointing behind him.

“In case you hadn’t noticed,” Lance shouted, anxiously glancing behind him, trying not to scream as the guys with guns got closer, “there are seven of them and four of us, and we have no cover!”

Crack! went a gun, as if to accentuate Lance’s point

“The nearest cover _is_ Arus, Lance!” Pidge called from Emmie.

“Ah shit,” Lance said. “Fine, Keith, you go with Hunk. I’ll stick with Pidge. Split up, keep ‘em confused, try and circle back. Keith, I need you to wreak some havoc, keep their attention off of Hunk.”

Keith nodded, holding Lance’s gaze as much as he could on a speeding mustang. “You got it.”

“See you at Arus, then,” Lance said, nodding back.

 _Finally_ , thought Keith, and he pulled the reins. Red responded instantly, as if waiting for the moment where she could well and truly shine.

Keith peeled off from the main group, barely avoiding the spray of gunshots that made their way into the dusty dirt below Red’s feet. He circled back towards Arus, trying to pull the cronies’ attention.

Sure enough, two horsemen split off to follow him, gunshots echoing the action.

Keith smiled. He never felt more alive than this, with the wind in his face, hoof beats and heartbeats pounding in time. Arus in the distance.

He spared a glance for Hunk, who was steering the poor draft horse as best he could. There were two men on his tail and catching up fast.

“Okay, Red,” Keith said. “You ready to show these guys what you got?”

Red tossed her head and Keith took that to mean _Hell yes_.

He pulled at the reins, bringing her about face and dancing between the two that were following him. They didn’t even have time to think about aiming their guns at him. In the next moment, he was racing past them, pointing Red towards Saffron and Hunk, who were now facing him.

Keith held a knife ready in his hand as he raced towards the men pursuing Hunk. Keith smiled and slashed his knife as one of the men raced past.

He heard the horse’s whinny and a man’s scream, and Keith didn’t even have to look to know he struck true. There was a clatter as the saddle, along with the man in it, tumbled off a racing horse.

Keith wheeled back around, his own two pursuers catching on and firing at him as Red was forced to slow down for the turn. But Keith and Red moved as one, racing past them again. Keith shoved one of them, and he tumbled off, foot caught in the stirrup, and his own horse dragged him across the hard ground.

Keith smirked. Two down.

He peeled off a little bit away from Hunk, hoping that Hunk’s pursuer would go for him instead. Sure enough, the other two men were too busy firing at him to notice that Hunk was getting further and further away. Who knew that big horse could move like that?

Keith spared a glance to his left, where Pidge and Lance were weaving in and out of the three other cronies. While Lance wasn’t the most talented horseman, it was obvious that he and Blue knew each other very well. Lance fired off a shot at one of the guys, blowing off his hat.

Lance winked and whooped and raced off.

Keith shook his head and continued to push Red closer and closer towards Arus.

All four of them had somehow managed to turn the tide. Now they were between their attackers and Arus, and the town was coming up fast.

A strange feeling overcame Keith as he, Lance, Pidge, and Hunk crossed the threshold of the town together. Keith felt like for the first time in his life, he was a part of something bigger than himself. They were just four teenagers who decided that they wanted to make a difference, and here they were, running against the wind as if their lives depended on it. And they did.

They had made it to Arus, but the fight wasn’t even close to being over yet.

Keith pulled Red into a slightly slower canter so that he could scan the ghost town for that cover they so desperately needed.

“There!” Lance yelled, pointing towards a run down building that according to the dilapidated sign used to be the bank.

Without any hesitation, all four of them turned their horses and raced towards the building.

\--

**Lance**

Lance didn’t think his heart had ever beat so fast as he leaped off of Blue, pushing her into the dilapidated bank. In an instant he had grabbed and loaded his rifle. He settled on the right side of the doorway, kneeling down beneath a broken window.

Five of the seven men were still circling around, trying to get at them, and a sixth was riding up, his saddle missing. A few leaped off their horses and took cover.

“Hunk!”

“I’m on it!” Hunk yelled, stumbling off of Saffron to join Lance in providing cover fire for the other two.

The rifle felt like it belonged in his hands, the lever-action smooth and the kick-back well-anticipated. Lance shot at the men trying to break through their cover, aiming well-placed shots at their horses’ feet to keep them dancing away.

Hunk knelt on the opposite side of the door, firing off powerful shots with his gun. The loud bang from the shotgun was enough to scare the horses.

“How many are we looking at, Lance?” Keith asked from behind him. Lance didn’t dare take his eyes off the real threat, but boy did he want to. Lance had seen how Keith rode Red like she was just an extension of himself, saw that glint in his eyes as he chased the bad guys. It was like Keith was truly alive for the first time.

But there was no time for that now. No, Lance’s heart was pounding in his chest, and not because of a cute boy. Each beat set adrenaline coursing through him. He raised up, glancing out the window before ducking down before anyone had time to aim at him.

“Six. Three on horses, three on foot. Two have holed out across the street, in the saloon, and I’m having trouble getting to them,” Lance said, aiming again.

“It doesn’t look like they’re giving up anytime soon, and I’m running out of ammo,” Hunk said.

Lance grimaced. He was, too. Fifteen rounds in his rifle, and he’d already gone through ten. He had his pistols, six rounds each, and two dozen other bullets, but that was still too close.

“Two in the saloon, you said?” Keith asked.

Lance nodded. “Both have pistols, but only one of them actually knows how to use it.”

“Okay then. Cover me.”

And with that, Keith was off. Lance only saw a blur as he ran out the front door.

“Oh my god, Keith!” Pidge said, pulling out her little device and trying to run after him. Hunk yanked her back.

“Reckless idiot,” Lance muttered, even has he laid some covering fire as Keith zig-zagged across the street, as smooth on the ground as he was on Red.

Keith dodged horses hooves and swiped with his knives like he was born to do it, Lance doing all that he could not to get caught up in the dance. Bullets were flying past Keith, but even from this distance Lance could see a smirk on his face.

But one of the men, who had taken cover behind a stack of crates, aimed his pistol at Keith’s back. Keith didn’t see him, couldn’t while he was battling three other guys.

Lance forced his racing heart to stay calm as he drew in a breath and took aim.

Crack!

Lance had aimed true, shooting the man’s gun from his hand. The man screamed and lowered a bloodied hand that Lance suspected had fewer fingers than before.

It took everything in Lance not to gag. Instead, he looked at Keith, who had made it into the saloon.

It was impossible to see what was happening, but there were a couple strangled cries, punctuated by a few gunshots. Lance just hoped Keith was alright. His job was to make sure none of the other guys followed him into the building, and he was damn well going to keep that from happening.

All of the men had gotten off their horses at this point, and took cover behind buildings and stacks of crates or barrels. Hunk’s shotgun was kind of useless at this point, and after that shot at the guy’s hand, the other men had realized what kind of gunman Lance was and didn’t show themselves.

Suddenly, Keith burst out from the saloon doors at a dead sprint, one other guy running out after him.

Lance took aim and pulled the lever, only to have it stick. “Shit shit shit shit,” Lance said as he pulled his pistols from their holsters, trying to move quickly enough to give Keith a chance to get to cover.

The familiar handles of the pistols gave Lance a small bit of comfort as he fired shot after shot, changing up his target to keep them on their toes.

With a shout, Keith dove through the doorway of the bank and rolled to one side. Pidge next to him.

“What happened in there?” Lance asked, reloading his guns as quickly as he could while Hunk fired a couple of shots.

“One guy down, but the other one got me good,” Keith said, his voice a little strained.

“Shit, Keith, your shoulder!” Pidge shouted.

Lance looked back long enough to see that the left shoulder of Keith’s shirt was soaked in blood.

“Oh no! Oh no oh no oh no,” Hunk said.

Lance’s heart started racing even faster, but this time with worry. Five against four, but only two of them had guns, one of them was injured, and the other one hadn’t ever been in a fight and was busy trying to patch up the other one.

“Lance, I’m out!” Hunk said, tossing his shotgun aside.

Make that one guy with two pistols against five.

They needed to make it out of this alive, but Lance wasn’t sure how.

 _Think, Lance_.

He needed to conserve bullets, that he knew. He needed to keep the men on their toes without wasting ammo. For now, Lance and the others were covered, but he had to make sure to keep it that way.

 _Okay_ , Lance, he thought to himself, _make every shot count_.

Bang! Lance hit an arm.

Bang! Someone’s foot.

Bang! A hat went flying off.

“Woo! Nice job, Lance!” Hunk yelled.

Lance smiled a bit. It was a nice bit of gun work.

But his job wasn’t done yet. The men were still trying to advance, and even their injuries weren’t stopping them. The onslaught of bullets barely paused when Lance had shot that guy’s foot.

Lance took aim again, trying to clip some guy’s shoulder.

But the man turned at the last second, just as Lance was squeezing the trigger, and he went down.

Lance stared in horror at the lifeless body, sprawled out unnaturally on Arus’s main road. Lance had killed him, shot him straight in the heart.

Lance turned to the side and retched. He couldn’t help it. He knew they were in the middle of a gunfight, but Lance had really and truly killed a man.

“Lance!” Lance heard, as if from under water. “Lance, we need you!”

He turned and looked out the window and cursed. They were in some deep shit now.

The remaining four guys had used the pause in Lance’s gunfire to rush at the bank.

Lance raised his guns again, trying to shoot a spray of bullets, but his hands were shaking and his eyes had welled up with tears.

The men rushed up the steps to the bank, and Lance let out a strangled cry and fired his guns. A couple bullets hit arms or legs, but the men barely even paused.

Click, click, click.

Lance was out of bullets and out of time, and he and his friends were going to become just a couple more ghosts in a ghost town.

Suddenly, there was a loud crack and a guy goes down.

Crack! Another.

The other two guys turned around and rushed out the door. Lance could see the vague outline of a figure, caught a glimpse of something silvery-white.

Not a second later, a pair of guns were tossed into Lance’s hands.

Lance looked up to see the most beautiful woman in the world. Her silver hair flowing behind her, a whip in her hands, and a look in her eyes that said _Don’t fuck with me_.

“Cover me,” she said, and she turned back into the fray.

Only after a moment’s pause did Lance pick up the two pistols. They were similar models to his own, though they felt a bit heavier in his hands. But they’d do nicely. With a cry, Lance fired out into the square, avoiding the beautiful woman and her deadly whip, which was now disarming men left and right, shooting with her own gun.

In what seemed like just moments, the fight was over.

The men were dead, and an eerie silence covered the town.

The woman turned and walked back towards the bank, where Hunk, Pidge, Keith, and Lance were all staring at her in shock. She kicked disdainfully at one of the guys sprawled out the steps of the bank.

Lance found his voice first, though he did nothing to disguise the awe in it. “Who _are_ you?”

“My name is Allura Altea, and I have a feeling you four can help me.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALLURA SAVES THE DAY!!!! You didn't think I forgot about her now did you? 
> 
> We're really getting into the meat of the story, so I'm super excited. I also got a bunch of Westerns for Christmas, so I've been extremely inspired lately. 
> 
> Don't forget, I made a playlist for this fic here. I listened to Run Free a lot when I was writing Keith's part, and Gun In My Hand when writing Lance's. (also, if you guys want me to make it a YouTube playlist as well, just lmk)
> 
> And a special thank you to all those who left comments and kudos. They really mean a lot to me, especially because I didn't expect anyone to read this fic at all. You're the whole reason I didn't give up like two chapters ago. Love you guys <3


	7. Ghost Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allura introduces herself, and the gang has to decide what to do next.
> 
> Ft. Angry Pidge and a surprising amount of Klance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who wrote this instead of working on my thesis *throws glitter*
> 
> I know it took a while for me to get this out, but I hope you can forgive me. It's an extra long chapter if that helps?
> 
> Anyway, I actually think this chapter turned out pretty okay. Lots of ground to cover, but the adventure continues!
> 
> Chapter title from a 1956 Western

“My name is Allura Altea, and I think you four can help me.”

Keith shared a glance with Hunk and Lance, who looked about as apprehensive as he was feeling, though in Lance’s case it was more confusion mixed with awe.

But Pidge’s eyes widened. “Allura Altea? Alfor Altea’s daughter? I heard you were dead!”

The corners of Allura’s mouth pulled into a slight frown at the mention of her father’s name. “Yes, I suppose that would be what you heard…”

“You’re very pretty for a dead girl,” Lance said, giving Allura a wink. She just rolled her eyes.

Keith scrunched up his nose in disgust. Two seconds in and Lance was already hitting on her. They didn’t even know if they could trust this mystery person, they just knew that she saved their lives. And okay, that was a pretty good reason to trust someone, at least a little bit.

“Pidge, you know her?” Keith asked.

Pidge nodded. “Well, I know of her. The Alteas are an old family, used to own a lot of land. Now they just own the town Altea.” She pushed up her glasses and stared suspiciously at Allura. “But around the time that my brother and Shiro went missing, there was a huge fire at the Altea mansion. Alfor didn’t make it, and his daughter disappeared. No one’s been able to find her since.”

Keith took another look at Allura.

Why on earth would an heiress come to a ghost town? And why did she save them? And—

“What did you mean you thought we could help you?” Keith asked.

Allura sighed. “It’s a rather long story. Perhaps I could tell it over some dinner?”

Keith’s immediate reaction was to say no. They didn’t know this woman, or what she wanted from them, and Keith wasn’t what you would call a very trusting person.

But he did trust his gut, and that feeling that had plagued him only this morning, the one that warned him about the ambush at Arus, was gone.

He glanced around at the others, Lance nodding a little too eagerly, Pidge looking like she wanted to ask just how Allura managed to vanish into thin air, and Hunk already reaching towards his cooking supplies in Saffron’s saddlebag.

Keith gritted his teeth. “Fine,” he said.

“Fantastic,” Allura said, giving Keith a discerning look. “I’ll just get Coran, and he can take a look at that shoulder.” She walked out of the bank and gave a whistle into the oncoming night.

Keith’s eyes widened and he shied away.

“What the hell is a Coran?”

—

After a round of kind of awkward introductions, Keith found out that Coran was actually a person, and Allura’s sort-of uncle. He also happened to be an experienced doctor, though with some rather strange bedside manners.

“This is quite a nasty wound you got there. Did you get in a fight with a Balmeran bull-raptor?”

Keith didn’t bother answering him. Or asking what the fuck a Balmeran bull-raptor was.

Lance, Pidge, and Allura had gotten a fire going on the old bank floor, and Hunk was humming to himself, fixing some rabbit Lance had wrangled up.

Once Keith’s shoulder was bandaged up and dinner was simmering over the campfire, things fell quiet and everyone looked at Allura and Coran.

Keith was still suspicious of these newcomers, and he was eager for some answers.

“So, Allura, what’s a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this?” Lance asked, throwing in a smirk and batting his eyelashes.

Keith scoffed and rolled his eyes. He claimed he didn’t remember Lance from their school days, but things were slowly coming back to him: a young boy with too much energy who would pick weeds from the fields and present them to the young girls in their class, asking if he could be their brave cowboy. Some things never change.

Allura, for her part, did not take the bait. “I suppose it is time for me to tell you my story.”

Pidge took that as her cue. “Are you really the Altean heir? Do people really call you the Princess of the West? Why did you disappear? What really happened that night? Why are you here in Arus? Why did you save us—”

Allura looked a little taken aback, leaning ever-so-slightly away from the enthusiastic young girl.

“Pidge, you’re scaring the nice lady,” Hunk said gently, placing a hand on Pidge’s shoulder. “Why don’t you let her tell it, and ask questions later?”

Pidge sighed a little grumpily and settled back down. Keith suspected she was still bitter that she didn’t get a chance to really fight. Even Keith felt a little useless after the gunfight, so he couldn’t imagine what must be going through Pidge’s head.

Allura giggled and relaxed a bit. “I’m going to try and answer all your questions to the best of my ability. I have a good feeling that you lot are just the allies I need.”

“But why? How do you know you can trust us? How do we know we can trust _you_?” Keith asked. This had been needling him throughout their whole interaction.

Allura nodded. “I can answer the first right now, and I hope my story will answer the second. I suppose I can trust you simply because the enemy of my enemy is my friend. I’ve been looking for a man named Shiro, and I tracked him to this place.”

All four of them exchanged looks. Allura was looking for Shiro too? Just how many people were after him?

Allura went on, a bit oblivious to the panic going on inside everyone. “I saw the ambush being set, and I thought I would lay low until a good distraction came along. And that happened to be you four!”

She said that a bit cheerily for Keith’s taste. They all almost died today, after all.

“And I’m taking a leap of faith here and saying that because Zarkon’s men attacked you, you’re not on his side, and you’re therefore on mine.”

“Safe assumption,” Pidge grumbled.

Allura smiled.

“But why are you looking for Shiro?” Keith asked. The more Allura talked, the less Keith knew what was going on, and he really liked knowing what was going on.

Allura fixed him with her gaze. Keith saw a hardness that only came with intense grief and the stubbornness of anger. “Because my father died with a telegram from Shiro in his hand.”

A hush fell over everyone. The hisses and pops of the fire felt all the louder in the quiet.

Finally, Keith dared to break the silence. “What did the telegram say?”

Allura pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and handed it to Keith. I was a little burnt on the edges, but worn and soft from having been unfolded and refolded so many times.

Keith opened it with shaky hands, looking at the last thing Shiro had sent to someone. Everyone leaned in to look over his shoulder.

“Found a way to defeat Zarkon STOP Request immediate response STOP Contact Shiro at Kerberos STOP”

So they were right. All their suspicions had been totally confirmed.

Keith looked up at Allura. “Tell us everything you know.”

Allura took a deep breath and began.

“As you probably know, the Alteas are a very wealthy family who have owned land in the West for a very long time. My father was supposed to be the heir to an enormous tract of land once my grandfather died, but somehow everything except the town of Altea itself was bequeathed to my step-uncle Zarkon. I suspect it might have to do with our…mixed heritage.

“Regardless, there wasn’t much my father could do about it, so we settled for a comfortable life in Altea. But Zarkon used his new wealth to build an empire, running people out of their homes and away from their farms.”

Lance, Hunk, and Keith all nodded sympathetically. They had lived with that reality practically their entire childhood, and they knew that Zarkon was a powerful and untouchable man.

“But despite everything, nothing could be traced directly back to Zarkon. So my father took it upon himself to try and find something that would stop him in his tracks. In the case of Altea, literally. Zarkon’s plan is to build a railroad that stretches the entire West, using it to run every small farmer out of business. Altea is the last holdout before Zarkon got permission from the government.”

Keith’s eyes widened. A private railroad could ruin businesses everywhere, and devastate any farmers who weren’t working under Zarkon already.

“Six months ago, my father received a telegram from Shiro, and six months ago, Zarkon’s gangs burned down my home and attacked my down, killing my only family.” Tears welled up in Allura’s eyes, but the sadness was backed by a true, righteous anger. “I have taken up my father’s work, and I intend on taking Zarkon down and making him pay for what he’s done.”

Coran reached out and patted Allura’s hand, tears falling down his own face.

Hunk, Lance, Pidge, and Keith all shared a look.

“We’ll help you,” Hunk said decisively. “Anyway we can.”

“And besides, Zarkon still can’t touch Altea as long as you’re around, right?” Lance said, a note of cheer in his voice.

Allura’s face fell again. “That’s just it. Zarkon’s gangs have been after me, and I’ve been running around for nearly six months trying to find Shiro. For my own safety, I’ve concealed my identity, but that also means that I can be declared legally dead, and any land I inherit goes up for auction.”

Pidge’s eyes widened. “Oh no.”

Allura nodded. “I can be declared dead if I’ve been missing for six months.”

“H-How long until that happens?” Hunk asked nervously.

Allura grimaced. “Five days.”

Hunk blanched. “I’m going with Pidge here. Oh no.”

“But if we can find Shiro, we might just be able to take down Zarkon before that happens,” Allura said, determination in her voice. “I’ve been searching for him on my own, but, by the way you all looked at each other, I think you know him, and can help me find him.”

Pidge nodded. “Shiro lives in Garrison, where we’re from. He’s Keith’s brother, and my brother and father were with him when he went missing.”

Allura reached out and clasped Pidge’s hands. “I am so sorry. I know what it’s like to lose your family. I’m going to do all I can to help you get them back.”

Pidge looked at Allura with more hope than Keith had ever seen on her young face. “Thank you.”

The group fell quiet again, but this time, Keith didn’t feel the silence like a weight. Instead, it was thoughtful, and maybe just a bit hopeful.

Eventually, Coran got up, saying he needed to “drain the snake.” Keith shuddered at the phrasing.

Hunk doled out the stew, and Keith really did not regret bringing Hunk along. Not only was he a good shot, but he was a great cook, and the stew settled warmly in Keith’s belly.

“So what’s the next step?” Lance asked around a mouthful of food.

Everyone looked at Lance.

He shrugged, swallowing his stew. “It’s all well and good, and believe me, I’m super glad to have Allura on the team. But Shiro clearly isn’t here. So…what’s next?”

Allura frowned. “I was hoping you all would have some idea.”

Hunk and Lance looked to Pidge and Keith, who shrugged. Keith had hoped, foolishly he supposed, that Arus would have answers for them. That maybe Shiro for whatever reason was holed up here, unable to get back home…

Keith shook the thought out of his head. It was no help then and it would be no help now. Now, they had to figure out where to look next.

“I guess we should investigate the town?” Pidge suggested. “Allura, you said you tracked Shiro here—”

“Guys!” interrupted Coran, who called from outside. “I think you should come and have a look at this!”

They all scrambled up, abandoning their meal, to rush outside.

The sun had set and the cool night had come, casting the carnage of the earlier fight into shadow. Coran was gesturing at one of these shadows in the street.

Keith gasped. It was one of the men he had confronted in the saloon, the one he thought he had stabbed with his knives. He had somehow crawled his way out and was trying to make his way to his horse.

Keith ran up to him, which wasn’t difficult considering the man could only drag himself by his arms, and kicked him over.

He fell with a flop, limbs limp, clearly exhausted. But still he grinned up at Keith, mouthful of blood, and tried to spit at Keith.

Keith growled and stepped down hard on the man’s shoulder, where Keith knew there was a rather nasty knife wound.

The man coughed and sputtered, letting out a pained chuckle.

By this point, most of the group had joined him and was staring down at the man.

“Looks like we have a new lead after all,” Allura said, kicking at the guy’s boots.

—

With Allura’s help, they managed to carry the injured man into the bank and set him next to the campfire. Lance looked like he was about to faint when Allura almost singlehandedly picked up the guy, and even Keith could admit he was impressed.

Coran had dragged Pidge away from the man, insisting on cleaning and bandaging some scrapes and grazes from the fight that had gone unnoticed. Hunk had also wandered off a bit, clearly not too happy with the interrogation process.

Meanwhile, Allura was staring at the man like she was trying to burn a hole in him with her eyes.

“Why did Zarkon send you here?” she asked, lip curling in disgust.

The man just smirked. “That rich old man? What would he want with little old me?”

There was a glint in his eyes that told Keith that he was trouble.

“We know you work for Zarkon, so just tell us why you’re here!” Allura asked again, this time adding a little kick for good measure.

“If I did work for that man, and I’m not saying I do, why would I tell _you_ anything?”

Keith rolled his eyes, marched up, and placed a hard-soled boot on the guy’s injured stomach.

“The sooner you tell us, the sooner you won’t be in pain anymore,” Keith said, trying to keep calm. This guy was really starting to annoy him.

The guy just wheezed.

Lance, who had up to that point been standing on the sidelines watching curiously, had turned a concerning shade of green.

“Where is Shiro?” Keith asked through gritted teeth.

The man actually laughed, but it turned into a cough rather quickly. He turned and spat out a bit of blood.

“So that’s why you’re here. Shiro? He’s been a good little champion for Zarkon for the past few months.”

Keith blanched. What the hell did that mean?

“Where’s my family?” Pidge demanded, yanking her arm out from Coran’s grip.

The man just looked confused.

“Shiro wasn’t alone. He had two others with him, Matt and Samuel Holt. What did Zarkon do with them?”

The guy laughed cruelly. “I’ve never heard of them. It’s probably because their corpses are rotting somewhere forgotten in the desert.”

Pidge let out a primal scream that broke Keith’s heart. She rushed at the man, who was just smirking at her misery, but Hunk caught her before she could reach him.

She kicked and screamed and tried to break out of Hunk’s hold, yelling, “Let me fight! Let me kill him! I wanna kill him!”

Allura looked pale.

Lance reached over to Pidge to try and calm her down, but Keith grabbed his arm and shook his head. Lance lowered his arm, but each time Pidge screamed, Lance flinched.

Keith turned to Allura.

“We can’t keep him alive,” he said, barely bothering to look down at the piece of scum that had somehow survived. “If we take him with us, he slows us down, and we can’t just leave him because he knows too much.”

Lance’s eyes widened. “We can’t just kill him in cold blood!”

“Keith’s right, Lance,” Allura said. “As long as he’s a live, there’s a chance Zarkon will find out what happened here.”

Lance shook his head. “I can’t be a part of that.”

Keith glanced down. “It looks like you won’t have to.”

Sure enough, the man had let out one last wheezy breath, and stilled.

Pidge stopped screaming, and the silence felt heavy. Lance looked even paler.

Finally, Hunk said, “What could Shiro and the Holts have found that could make Zarkon this scared?”

“I’m not sure, Hunk,” Allura said. “But whatever it is, we’re going to find it.”

“How?” Lance asked, hopelessness bleeding into his voice. This was a far cry from the guy who so confidently shouted out a plan while being chased on horseback by seven armed men.

“By retracing Shiro’s steps and find out where he was captured,” Pidge said. Her voice was a bit hoarse, but it was hardened beyond what Keith expected of her. “I refuse to give up without answers, and I think we need to start at Kerberos.”

Keith nodded. “I agree with Pidge.”

Allura looked at each of them. “I have been to Kerberos, and I didn’t find much, but maybe there’s something we missed. I don’t think I have a better plan anyway.”

“But Allura,” Coran interrupted, “that doesn’t leave much time for you to get to Altea. It’s already three days from here, and Kerberos is quite the detour. You’ll lose another day, for sure.”

“That’s just a risk I’ll have to take,” Allura said, raising up to her full height.

“Whatever we do, we have to do it fast. We’ll get you to Altea,” Lance said, spirits lifting somewhat now that they had a semblance of a plan.

“But I don’t think we should leave until morning,” Keith said. “We pushed the horses pretty hard today.”

“And we all need rest, too,” Allura chimed in.

Nobody objected.

—-

Everyone rolled out their beds and settled in to sleep. No one mentioned setting watch, but Keith figured that the danger had already passed.

Because the bank was rather large, everyone spread out, a little strung out from the fight. Allura and Pidge holed up in the vault, Hunk found a cozy spot behind what would’ve been the teller’s counter. Coran laid near the entrance to the bank, underneath a break in the ceiling, and Keith snuggled up near the horses, receiving comfort from their familiar smell.

But Lance hadn’t gotten out anything at all. He sat up, just staring into the flames of the dying fire.

Before he knew what was happening, Keith found himself getting up and approaching the young sharpshooter.

He wasn’t sure what he was going to do, if he was going to ask Lance what was wrong or what. All Keith knew was that the silence coming from Lance was beyond unnatural, and he had to do _something_.

Lance didn’t even look up when Keith approached him, though Keith was sure he had heard him. So Keith sat down gingerly next to him, not saying a word.

Keith didn’t know a lot about people, but he did know that they would talk when they wanted to, not before. Horses were like that too. Sometimes, you just needed to be near them, and eventually they’d come to you.

The firelight reflected off of Lance’s bronzed face, casting his already golden skin in a golden light. He looked like some kind of painting, like he should be on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, or collecting dust in a museum, rather than collecting dust in an unforgiving desert.

He wore weariness well. Those long eyelashes casting shadows across his face, his brow furrowed. Keith resisted the urge to press his finger to that spot to smooth it out.

Lance gave a shaky sigh and began to speak. His voice was barely a whisper.

“I didn’t really expect to come out of this whole thing squeaky clean and unscathed, but I didn’t really think I’d kill someone.” Lance looked up, striking Keith with those baby blue eyes of his. “Not like this.”

“What do you mean?” Keith breathed.

Tears began to fall from Lance’s face.

“I was aiming at his sh-shoulder, and he m-moved…”

Lance fell forward, clasping at Keith’s shirt and burying his face in his shoulder. Tears fell in earnest, and Lance hiccuped as he sobbed.

Keith stiffened at first, but soon relaxed. He wasn’t exactly the best when it came to comforting people, but he could at least understand this. Keith never had to kill anyone, but he came pretty close a few times when Shiro was first missing.

“Lance, it’s kill or be killed out here. You saw what that guy was like. He wouldn’t have thought twice about putting a bullet through your skull. I don’t think the others were much different.”

Lance lifted his head off of Keith’s shoulder and stared at him, his eyes wide.

“But I killed someone, a human being. I don’t care what he was like. I don’t really know if I can live with that.”

“You’re gonna have to,” Keith said, his voice hardening. “This might have been the first person you killed, but he certainly won’t be your last. These men are cruel and won’t hesitate. You’ve got to be surer than they are.”

Lance took a shaky breath. “I just don’t want to be the kind of person who can kill someone and be okay.”

Keith stared into Lance’s eyes, trying to impart exactly how important this was. “This feeling? This not being okay? Don’t ever forget it. But you’re gonna have to learn to forgive yourself if you want to survive out here.”

Lance nodded and looked down.

Keith noticed then just how close he and Lance were. He could feel Lance’s breath on his neck, and he could see the dainty freckles that dotted his face. Lance smelled like gunpowder and sweat and a certain something else that Keith couldn’t place…

Keith pulled away suddenly, pretending he hadn’t just been leaning in closer.

Lance startled and looked up at Keith.

“Thank you,” he said, capturing Keith with his gaze again.

Keith nodded and gave a small smile. “Goodnight Lance.”

“Night, Keith.”

—

Allura curled up in the vault of the bank, amongst papers and old valuables scattered from looted safety deposit boxes. She saw a couple pieces of fool’s gold, old letters, a few certificates, and even a last will and testament. The relics of a people long gone. She could hear the steady breathing of the young teenager beside her. Pidge, she said her name was. How unusual.

It was a rather unusual group of people Allura had run into in this ghost town. She hoped she did well by trusting them. She had a good feeling about them, though they _were_ rather young. Allura herself was only twenty-three, but they all looked to be around eighteen or so. Pidge even younger.

Allura sighed. This is what Zarkon did. He forced kids to fight or lose their homes, their livelihoods. She heard their stories and felt for them. Keith and Pidge lost their families, and Lance and Hunk just wanted to protect the ones they loved.

She heard the desert wind blow through Arus, whistling through the dilapidated buildings like a woman crying for a long lost love.

This is what Allura fought for. To make sure Altea didn’t become another ghost town, forgotten on almost every map.

And most of all, Allura fought for her father, for all the things he stood for, and most of all for the thing he died for. Some would say vengeance is not moral, but they would be wrong. Vengeance was the thing that kept her going when the world looked bleak. Zarkon would pay, and with her new friends, they just might be able to pull it off.

Allura began to drift off, full of more hope than she’d had in six months, thinking more on the day.

That Lance, he really was an excellent shot, but she’d like it if he would stop hitting on her. Especially since Keith looked like he wanted to murder her every time Lance so much as made eye contact.

Oh well. They’d figure it out at some point.

Sleep claimed her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plot thickens! 
> 
> I just watched the Magnificent Seven like twice in 24 hours, so I've had that theme stuck in my head for this whole chapter. Fucking good movie too. 
> 
> If you wanna leave comments or kudos, please do! They really make me smile an awful lot.


	8. Bad Company

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the gang heads to Kerberos, they hit a little detour...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So sorry about the delay. The semester started, and it's been one crazy thing after another (I got into grad school!!!)
> 
> Unfortunately, this may be the last update for a couple of months, so I tried to make it longer than my usual chapters. Basically all my time is now gonna be spent on my thesis, and I've got an interview for a grad school at the beginning of March, so I don't anticipate a lot of time to work on this.
> 
> But don't worry! First, I have every intention of finishing this. I have had this thing planned out since the beginning, and I really want to see this through. Also, by this point, you know me. I LOVE to procrastinate and feel like I'm being productive, so it's possible I'll be fed up with my thesis and decide to write this instead.
> 
> Anyway, enough of me rambling. Title from a 1972 western.

Lance felt like he had barely been asleep when Coran shook him awake, or rather, poked him in the face until he woke up. Man, that guy was weird.

The sky was still dark, but Allura assured him that it was indeed just before dawn.

Allura really was beautiful, but Lance kind of wanted to hate her at the moment. She ran a tight ship, and everything was packed away and ready to go before the sun had even crested the horizon.

Yawning, he tightened the cinch on Blue’s saddle, knowing that that horse had a tendency to bloat up when first saddling her up.

He patted her side affectionately as she eyed him.

“I know, girl, but you don’t want me falling off, do you?”

Lance heard a quiet laugh behind him and turned to see Keith getting ready to mount up.

“Speaking from experience, are we?”

Lance rolled his eyes as he hooked his foot in the stirrup and swung up on Blue in a smooth motion. “Like Red doesn’t cause her own kind of trouble.”

Keith shrugged, conceding the point. “I suppose.”

“Lance, Keith!” came Allura’s authoritative shout.

Lance gave her a grin and a wink, and tilted his hat. “Ready to go when you are, princess.”

Allura shook her head and lightly tapped her heels to her horse, which Lance had overheard her calling Castillo, setting off at a heavy clip. Coran was not far behind, though noticeably more uncomfortable on his bay, who he called Weblum for some inexplicable reason.

Pidge and Hunk followed suit, Lance and Keith bringing up the rear.

With no ceremony whatsoever, they left Arus behind them. And good riddance, too. They didn’t have time to properly bury the bodies that were strewn across the town, and Lance wasn’t sure if he’d have the stomach to see what he had done in the light of day.

Lance grimaced at this thought, and gave a sideways glance at Keith. Lance had been wallowing, feeling so sorry and so guilty about what he had done, but Keith was right. He had to figure out how to move past this. This is what it meant to be a gunfighter, and this was what he wanted. Taking down the bad guys with his superior marksmanship.

And they were. Bad guys, that is. There was no doubt about it. But they were also human beings, and Lance didn’t know what kind of lives they led, if any, outside of working for Zarkon. If they had someone waiting for them at home, if they even had a home.

No. Lance couldn’t dwell on that now. What’s done is done. Lance couldn’t change that, even if he tried. He just had to move forward and do the best he could. And right now, that meant helping Allura get to Kerberos and then to Altea.

And speaking of Allura…

Oh, she was beautiful. Eyes that sparkled like the sun on a lake. Rich skin darker than his own. And whip-smart. Ha. _Whip_ -smart.

Lance chuckled to himself.

Keith squinted at him suspiciously. “What’s so funny?”

Lance smirked. “Hey, Allura!” he called, instead of answering Keith.

Allura barely turned in her saddle, giving him a look that probably was annoyed, but Lance was already speaking.

“You seem pretty smart. Whip-smart, I’d say.”

Pidge, Hunk, and Keith all groaned.

Allura gave him an unimpressed look and turned back to face forward.

Coran, however, let out a belly laugh that startled his own horse.

Lance gave the man a soft smile. He seemed like a good soul, if a little strange.

After that, the mood seemed to lift a bit. Lance suspected he wasn’t the only one dwelling on what had happened in Arus, between the fight, and the new friends, and Pidge finding out that her family might be dead.

If he could get Pidge to forget about that, just for a moment, it was worth a little humiliation.

And so he kept it up, continually trying to grab Allura’s attention in increasingly ridiculous ways. Though, one of them ended up with him sideways in his saddle, his hand tangled in his reins, accidentally pulling Blue into never-ending circles. That got plenty of chuckles out of almost everyone.

Except Keith. It seemed like the more Lance goofed off, the more irritated that boy became. Lance wasn’t really sure what it was. He felt like they were really starting to get along, especially after that talk last night. Maybe his crying had made Keith uncomfortable? He didn’t really seem like he had much practice in the comfort department, but Lance didn’t think it was really that terrible.

Oh well. If Lance wanted to flirt with a woman who was way out of his league, that was his business.

Maybe Keith was into Allura?

Ugh, Lance was thinking way too hard about this.

The day stretched, and Lance’s antics gradually petered off. Allura had set a grueling pace, making the trip to Arus seem almost leisurely by comparison. The sun beat down on Lance, sweat everywhere there could be sweat.

At one point, Lance felt like he was hallucinating.

“Hey, what’s that?” he asked, pointing at a couple of vague figures in the distance.

“What’s what?” Keith asked, scanning the horizon.

Lance squinted. “That, right over there!”

Pidge shook her head. “I don’t see anything.”

“Me, neither,” said Hunk.

Lance’s brow furrowed. “No, there’s definitely something there.”

“It’s probably a couple of trees or something,” Pidge said.

“I swear it’s not trees. I think it might be people.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “I think the heat’s getting to you, Lance.”

“No, I think he’s right,” Allura said, shading her eyes and looking out to where Lance had pointed.

“Ha!” Lance said, smirking at Keith. Take that!

As they approached, the fuzzy outlines became two people and a clearly broken wagon.

“Dammit,” Allura muttered. “We don’t have time for this.”

Coran reached out and put a comforting hand on Allura’s shoulder. “We’ve made good time today, we’re nearly at the river. And it’s about time for a break anyway, the least we can do is offer a bit of help.”

Allura sighed, her shoulders sagging. “I suppose you’re right.”

Lance watched her as she pasted a soft smile on her face and waved to the figures. He guessed it was a bit distressing, because they had only so much time to get back to Altea, but these people looked like they really needed help.

They had finally gotten close enough for Lance to get a good look. And oh wow. They were two really good-looking people. One of them was a guy with a slightly shaggy haircut, wearing a worn vest and a shirt that was so old it was see-through, though Lance wasn’t really complaining. That man was ripped.

And the girl. She was a tall blonde, with long hair that flowed down to her waist. She had a sweet face, a classic beauty. Not quite in the same league as Allura of course, but still gorgeous.

They also had a little dog with them, obviously some kind of mutt. Lance saw Pidge’s eyes widen at the sight of it, and Lance swore he heard a little squeak.

The two waved at the group as they approached.

“Howdy,” the man said, “could we trouble you kind folks for a hand?”

Allura hopped off her horse, and Lance and the others were quick to follow.

“It looks like you two got yourselves into quite a pickle,” Allura said. Lance noticed she didn’t say anything about help just yet.

The man chuckled. “That would be a safe assumption there. I’m Rolo, and this is Nyma, my cousin. We were trying to make it to Kerberos, but our wagon went down, and our horse ran off. We’ve been stranded since.”

Lance winced. Rough spot, really. In a desert like this, that could be a death sentence.

“If it’s just an axle alignment, I can help,” Hunk chimed in.

“But I don’t think we’d be any help with the horse,” Allura said. It was true, they didn’t really have any horses to spare.

“Honestly, if you can just give us a ride to the nearest town, we can make our way from there,” the woman, Nyma, chimed in.

“At least let me fix the wagon,” Hunk insisted.

Lance recalled Hunk before he took over his parents’ saloon. He had helped out more times at the McClain’s farm than Lance could count, constantly fiddling with the farm equipment. He honestly couldn’t leave a squeaky wheel alone, let alone a broken wagon.

“Hey, far be it from us to turn down some help,” Rolo said.

By this point, Lance had managed to maneuver his way to the front.

“Hey there,” he said, giving Nyma his most sultry smile. “The name’s Lance.”

“Hi, Lance,” Nyma giggled, and Lance felt his heart skip several beats. Oh wow, she sure was pretty.

Meanwhile, Hunk had wandered over to the wagon with Rolo, assessing the damage, and Pidge made a beeline for their dog.

“Can I pet your dog? Please?” Pidge asked, hand already reaching to pat the adorable guy’s head.

Nyma just laughed. “Yeah, sure. That’s Beezer. He’s friendly.”

Pidge’s face broke out into a grin that Lance was pretty sure would split her face in two, and she reached for the dog.

Beezer seemed to be a little less than thrilled with the attention, but he didn’t bite or anything, so Lance wasn’t too worried.

He returned his attention back to Nyma.

“So what’s a beauty like you doing way out in this desert?” Lance asked, trying to subtly flex his arm muscles, but according to the scoff Keith gave, it wasn’t really that subtle. Whatever.

Nyma shared a glance with Rolo and they both grimaced.

“We ran into a little trouble with the Galra gangs, and they ran us out of town. We’re gonna try and get a fresh start in Kerberos, get some honest work. If we ever get there…” Rolo trailed off.

“Galra gangs?” Hunk asked.

“Yeah, some big-shot named Zarkon’s got them on his payroll. Been bullying folks for a while now,” Rolo said, turning back to the wagon.

Allura’s eyes brightened and angered at the same time.

“You’re victims of Zarkon as well, then?” she asked, a little hesitantly.

Rolo and Nyma nodded. “He burned down our fields, left us with basically nothing. Captured a lot of our friends, too,” Nyma said.

“We barely escaped,” Rolo added.

Lance frowned. What was happening to Garrison was bad, but Rolo and Nyma’s story reminded him that it could be so much worse. If they didn’t do something, his town could end up burned, with nothing left for the land to give.

Keith stood up suddenly from where he had been leaning against his horse. “Captured? You mean, like slaves?”

“Basically. Some are forced to work on the railroad, others kind of just vanish and aren’t ever seen again.”

“By any chance have you heard of a man named Shiro?” Keith asked, and Lance heard a bit of hopefulness in his voice.

Nyma shook her head. “That doesn’t really ring any bells.”

As much as Lance was tempted, he did _not_ say, “Girl, you could ring _my_ bells any day.” But that wasn’t why they were there. And Keith would probably take out one of his crazy knives and stab him if he interrupted.

Pidge looked up from where she was playing with Beezer. “What about Matthew or Samuel Holt?”

At that, Rolo’s eyes widened. “Yeah, actually. Some guy named Matt stopped by, tried to recruit a couple people. Something about a rebel gang? He sounded pretty badass to be honest. I think they were putting up some Wanted posters of him when we left.”

Pidge froze, hand posed midair, her face almost emotionless, barely breathing.

“My brother’s…alive?” she whispered.

Lance rushed over and gave her a big hug. “Pidge, that’s great news!”

Pidge buried her face in Lance’s shoulder as he swung her around in a big circle. If Lance felt a teardrop or two, he didn’t say anything. He could only imagine the emotional whiplash she was feeling.

“Lance, put me down!” Pidge said, muffled from the fabric of his shirt and from her own laughter.

With a smile, he put the little pipsqueak down. “I’m just happy for you, Pigeon.”

Pidge tried to frown at him, though her joy still shone through. She punched his shoulder gently. “Don’t call me that.”

Lance just gave her a small smile. He hadn’t know this girl long, but already he thought of her as a little sister. Just seeing hope on her face made him want to tear down anyone who tried to get in her way.

At that moment, Hunk walked back from the wagon.

“So I don’t really see anything wrong with the axle, but give me a couple of hours and I can definitely figure out what’s wrong and get you guys back on your feet. That is, if we’ve got the time?” Hunk’s voice tilted up in a question as he looked at Allura.

Lance looked to her as well, trying to figure out what that determined expression meant.

“I suppose a few hours delay won’t make much of a difference. We were a bit ahead of schedule anyway,” she said finally.

Rolo and Nyma looked relieved, and Lance couldn’t blame them. Asking for a ride is one thing, but getting your wagon fixed? That would make a world of difference.

Lance plastered a smirk on his face again. He needed to figure out how to pass a couple of hours, and flirting with a pretty girl seemed like a pretty good idea. He turned towards Nyma, fully intending to hit her with the traditional Loverboy Lance charm.

But it seemed like she was already ahead of the game. She had sauntered up to him and was now only a few inches away. She peered out coyly from underneath her eyelashes, her beautiful eyes glinting like jewels in the sunlight.

“So, Lance…” she said, her voice not quite a purr, but enough that it made Lance’s heart beat just a little faster. She laid a delicate hand on his bicep.

Lance gulped, momentarily speechless. For all his blustering and bravado, Lance hadn’t really had a girl approach him so boldly before.

“I noticed your horse over there. She’s quite beautiful.”

Ah, okay. Lance was comfortable with this.

“Oh, Blue? Yeah, she’s amazing. You wanna meet her?” Lance said, taking the initiative to lead Nyma over to where he had left Blue. She was grazing on the little patches of scrub that dotted the landscape. Even with all the sweat and the desert dust, she looked gorgeous.

“Blue?” Nyma giggled. “Cute name.”

Lance beamed. “I’ve had her for years. Trained her myself!”

Nyma tilted her head. “Really? I bet she’s really something.”

Lance laughed and nodded. “Yeah, you should see her in action!”

Nyma glanced at the others. “Do you—do you think we could go for a ride? Or is Allura in charge?”

Lance looked over his shoulder at Allura. She was busy trying to calm an ecstatic Pidge, while also interrogating Rolo.

“Nah, if anything, I’m in charge. Let’s go.”

He mounted Blue in what he hoped was a smooth motion, though there was a bit of a struggle with the stirrups, and he pulled Nyma up behind him. She settled snugly against his back, and Lance felt himself blush when she wound her arms around his waist.

“Alright, Blue,” Lance said, grinning. “Show us what you got.”

\--

He and Nyma wound their way around the desert. Lance tried not to wander off too much, always keeping track of their position, but it was hard not to just let Blue go when a pretty girl kept giggling and breathing suggestions in his ear.

Lance would never admit it, but this was really the first time anyone had shown more than a passing interest in him, and his ego was soaring.

So when Nyma suggested they go a little ways off, saying that she remembered a really romantic spot a little ways away, Lance barely hesitated.

On their way, Lance felt Blue give that telltale tug that told him there was water nearby, but this time, unlike the time in Garrison, he was prepared. He gently nudged her back on track, and Blue reluctantly complied. Lance guessed that they must be getting close to the river.

See, Keith? He knew how to ride just fine.

Nyma indicated they should slow down, and Lance saw what she was talking about. A giant cactus loomed over, casting some shade in the desert. It wasn’t quite Lance’s idea of a romantic spot, but there were worse places.

Nyma slid off Blue, and Lance hopped off. There was a tension in the air, something that made his senses go on high alert, but he figured that was mostly nerves.

And suddenly, Nyma was crowding into Lance’s space, leaning suggestively on him, as she tilted up to whisper in his ear.

“Hey, can I show you something?”

Lance shuddered at her voice, and he ignored the alarm bells.

Nyma backed away and held up a bit of rope she had somehow nabbed from Blue’s saddle without him even noticing.

Lance balked a little bit. This was a bit out of his wheelhouse.

“Uh…well…I’m not really into…”

Nyma gave him a reassuring smile. “Just trust me.”

Lance’s heart beat heavily in his chest, though not quite in the pleasant way as before.

Before Lance could object, Nyma was winding the rope skillfully around his wrists and moving him towards the large cactus.

Lance tried to pull away, but before he fully realized what was happening, his arms were tied, and he was basically hugging the large cactus.

“Nyma?” Lance said, confused. He thought things were going so well.

Nyma gave him a wink as she mounted Blue. “I feel a little bad about this, you really are cute. But we really need your horse. Maybe we’ll meet again!”

And she wheeled off on Blue.

“Nyma, wait!” Lance called, though he knew it was useless. Nyma and Rolo had played them, and Lance had fallen for the trap like an idiot. He bet there wasn’t actually anything wrong with the wagon.

And now he was tied to a cactus in the middle of the desert.

Lance craned his neck, trying to see where Nyma had ridden off to.

A laugh bubbled up in his throat as he spotted her, struggling with an unruly Blue, who had taken it upon herself to rush towards the river Lance had sensed was nearby. Nyma had no idea what was coming.

Which meant that all wasn’t lost. But he needed to let the others know before things got much worse.

Lance began to shout, but he realized Nyma had been strategic and made sure they were out of earshot.

Lance sighed and slumped against the prickly cactus. Ugh, this was not comfortable. The spines were starting to poke through the thin fabric of his shirt, and there was something digging into his thigh.

Wait…his guns! If he could just get one, he could set off a shot. They weren’t so far that they wouldn’t hear that.

Lance twisted, trying to lift his leg up to his hand. He scrabbled for his thigh holster, his hands barely reaching. His torso dug into the prickly cactus, and Lance winced, but he didn’t give up.

Yes! He managed to hook a pinky finger into the trigger guard, and he pulled the pistol out carefully. With a bit more maneuvering, he held the gun properly. Or, as properly as you could while your hands were tied around a cactus.

He pulled the trigger.

\--

Keith shot up in his saddle at the sound of a gunshot.

He had taken Red out for a walk, after he realized Rolo didn’t know anything about Shiro. Hunk was busy trying to fix the wagon, muttering that he couldn’t really see anything wrong, Allura and Coran were trying to talk to Rolo to find out more, and Pidge had settled down to play with Beezer.

Something about Rolo and Nyma set Keith’s teeth on edge, but as much as he wanted to call Nyma’s interest in Lance suspicious, it wasn’t enough. They were clearly in a bad spot, and Lance seemed to think everything was fine.

But still. There was something a bit odd going on, and no, it was not jealousy.

So Keith decided to hop on Red and get rid of a bit of that restless energy. He took it upon himself to do a bit of patrolling. He wasn’t going to be too careful, not after the disaster that was Arus.

He was in the midst of walking Red along the banks of the river when he heard the gunshot. He whirled around towards the sound, his heart racing. It had to be Lance. No one else could’ve gotten themselves in trouble in the middle of nowhere. He just hoped that Lance hadn’t done something stupid like shot himself in the leg trying to impress Nyma.

He pulled the reins and spurred Red towards the sound.

It didn’t take long for Keith to spot Lance, but once he did, it took everything Keith had not to fall right off his horse.

“Keith! Buddy, can you help me out? Nyma took Blue, and I need to get her back!”

Keith just stared at the sight. There Lance was, his arms tied with what looked like his own rope, stuck hugging a huge fucking cactus.

Keith couldn’t help it. He just laughed. He laughed harder than he ever had in his life. His stomach hurt, and he couldn’t take a proper breath, but honestly? This was the funniest thing he had ever seen.

Lance pouted. “C’mon, man. It’s not that funny. Just untie me already!”

Tears blurred Keith’s vision, and he hiccuped so badly that he suddenly found himself on the ground.

“I’m sorry, Lance,” Keith said between gasping breaths. “It’s just…how the hell did you end up tied to a cactus?”

Lance pouted some more. “Okay, okay. I get it. Just…this is really uncomfortable.”

Keith wiped tears from his eyes, but he managed to get himself together enough to stand and pull out one of his knives from his belt.

“Whoa, wait, what are you doing?” Lance babbled as Keith approached him.

“Don’t be such a baby,” Keith said, cutting the rope cleanly with his knife. Okay, maybe he purposefully got a little close to Lance with the blade, just to scare him a little bit, but it’s not like Keith was actually gonna hurt him.

Lance let out a sigh as he pulled away from the prickly plant, rapidly unwinding the rope from his wrists and rubbing them.

“Thanks, man.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. You were saying something about your horse?”

Lance’s eyes widened. “Oh my god, Blue! Nyma took Blue! We have to get her back and warn the others! I think she and Rolo are bad news.”

“You think?” Keith said as he pulled himself back in the saddle. He held his hand out to Lance, which Lance just stared at. “You getting on or what?”

Lance shook his head. “Uh…yeah.” He clasped Keith’s hand hesitantly, like Keith was gonna try and drop him, but Keith just gripped harder. He couldn’t help but notice how nicely they fit together, both of their hands rough from years of work. Lance swung himself up in the saddle behind Keith.

Keith pretended not to care when his heart sped up a little when Lance snaked his arms around his middle.

He waited for the go-ahead from Lance before spurring Red towards the others, relishing in the little yelp that Lance gave when Red took off. Even with an extra person on-board, she fast.

Keith laughed, and Lance whooped, shouting something along the lines of “let’s go save our friends!”

\--

Pidge caught on pretty quick when Blue came back, dripping wet and without a rider.

Hunk caught on when he found a missing screw completely intact hidden in the body of the wagon.

And Allura caught on when Coran shouted “What the quiznak is that!” and pointed at Red galloping full-speed towards them, both Keith and Lance on her back.

Pidge also spotted Nyma, panting, also soaking wet, as she trudged back to camp. That’s what you get for choosing to steal Lance’s crazy horse.

Keith pulled Red to a full stop, and Lance hopped off, rushing towards his horse, petting her snout soothingly. Blue looked just fine to Pidge, even a little pleased with herself.

Allura gave Rolo a glare that would’ve left Pidge trembling out of fear, and without another word, hopped up on her horse.

Hunk shook his head sadly. “You know, we were just trying to help.”

Pidge thought that was almost worse. She hadn’t known Hunk long, but even she knew that she never wanted to disappoint him.

They all packed up their stuff rather quickly, leaving Rolo and Nyma just as stranded as before.

As the swindlers faded into the distance, Lance got louder and louder. They started off as small groans, but they grew to full-blown complaints about his wet saddle, and something about cactus spines?

Pidge would be more concerned if Blue looked just as uncomfortable, but she was prancing about even happier than before.

Lance gave a particularly loud groan, and Keith finally lost it.

“It’s all your fault, you know. If you hadn’t decided flirting with Nyma was a good idea, we’d be fine!”

Pidge couldn’t help but notice that Keith was just a little angrier than the rest of them about Lance’s flirting.

Allura scoffed. “What a waste of time.”

Pidge stiffened a bit in Emmie’s saddle. It didn’t feel like a waste of time to her.

“I have to disagree,” Pidge said. “I found out that my brother’s alive, and we got a lot of good information out of Rolo. If we backtrack to that town, we stand a good chance of finding him.”

“But we still don’t know where Shiro is,” Keith said.

Pidge flinched. Out of all of them, she was hoping that Keith would understand.

“Keith’s right. We need to find Shiro,” Allura said.

Pidge clenched her jaw. “But we know where Matt is, or at least, where he’s been recently, and he was with Shiro when they disappeared! He probably knows just as much as Shiro does about how to defeat Zarkon.”

Allura shook her head. “I’m sorry, Pidge, but my father received the telegram telling him to look for Shiro. I can’t take this risk.”

Pidge looked to the others.

“Keith?”

Keith glanced away. “I’m sorry, Pidge, but I have to find Shiro.”

Pidge looked towards Hunk, who held up his hands. “I don’t want to take sides here.”

“Lance?” Pidge turned to the boy, her eyes welling up with tears.

Lance sighed. “Listen, Pidge. I understand, I really do, and as much as I hate to agree with horseboy over here, I think Kerberos is still our best bet.”

Pidge blinked back tears. All she wanted was to find her brother, and now that he’s within reach, no one wants to help?

“But look at it this way,” Hunk said, patting her on the shoulder. “At least you know he’s alive.”

Pidge took a shaky breath and tried to see it from their perspective. Keith didn’t have the luxury of knowing whether or not his brother was even still alive, let alone where he was.

But still, something angry settled in Pidge’s stomach.

“Fine,” she said, but this wasn’t the end of this. She would find her brother, she just had to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost forgot! Literally right after I posted the last chapter, I watched the 2016 Magnificent Seven (which is SO GOOD btw, 8/10, and it's free on amazon prime), and one of the characters literally brings so many knives to a gunfight, and it's exactly how I imagined Keith would fight. [Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6MN7T-tnDw) is the link to the whole gunfighting scene, tw for blood and violence (Keith would be the guy played by Byung-hun Lee) and [Here](https://youtu.be/o-cA_1F05bU) is a less violent display of his knife prowess (which is a direct reference to the original Mag 7, and I am here for it) (again, tw)
> 
> Don't be afraid to come and bug me on [tumblr](http://thetolkiengeek.tumblr.com)


	9. Lonely Are The Brave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge hasn't quite forgiven Allura for not letting her search for her brother, Lance gets embarrassed, and some new guests arrive...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *insert Mushu gif* I LIIIIIIIIVE
> 
> Hello friends! It's been a while.
> 
> Long story short: I'm going to fucking Stanford for grad school, I turned in my final draft of my thesis yesterday, and I'm graduating in a month???? HOW DID I END UP HERE WTF
> 
> Anywho, here's another chapter to celebrate! I wrote most of this like a month ago, and then I entered into Blind Panic Mode about my thesis and I've been able to think of basically nothing since then, so if this feels a bit disjointed, I apologize. I figured you all deserved a chapter though, so here we are.
> 
> Hope you enjoy! Chapter title from a 1962 Western

With every landmark they passed, Pidge got angrier and angrier. Allura pushed the group even harder to make up for the time they lost with Rolo and Nyma.

Allura kept muttering about how useless a detour that was, and Pidge could understand that, she really could. Allura was on a time limit, and the actual fate of her home hung in the balance. But at the same time, Rolo and Nyma had heard of Matt, had seen him, and they still didn’t even know where Shiro was, only rumors. They could be wasting more time chasing after his ghost.

Pidge glanced at Keith. Guilt churned in her stomach at those thoughts. She and Keith had bonded over lost brothers, but now, she couldn’t help but feel resentful towards him for siding with Allura.

Luckily, Keith didn’t seem to notice, since he was too busy yelling at Lance.

Actually, no one seemed to be noticing Pidge at all. Hunk was trying to play peacemaker, Lance was complaining, and Allura and Coran were holding a hushed discussion up front, though Coran seemed to be having a little bit of difficulty remaining on his horse.

Pidge huffed. Every second that passed meant the trail grew colder.

By the time Allura decided it was time to make camp, even Emmie had picked up on Pidge’s dark mood, restlessly dancing in place. Pidge clicked her tongue, trying to calm her.

Pidge dismounted, volunteering to go gather some firewood so she didn’t have to look the people who angered her any longer than necessary. She didn’t know if she could keep pretending they were her friends if they wouldn’t want her to go after her family.

By the time she had gotten back, the horses had been fed and watered, and Hunk was prepping for dinner as best he could without a fire. The sun was just sinking below the horizon, casting everything in a red kind of fire.

Pidge dumped the firewood down by Keith without making eye contact and marched off, sitting as far away from everyone as possible.

That night, everything was silent and awkward. Eventually, even Keith and Lance had gotten tired of bickering, and the only sounds were someone asking for more stew, or the occasional huff from one of the horses.

“Hey, Hunk, can I ask you a favor?” Lance said, shifting uncomfortably on the ground.

Hunk smiled. “Yeah sure, buddy. What do you need?”

“Um…” Lance trailed off, Pidge swearing she saw him blush. “It’s…well…can you…canyoupleasehelpmegetcactusoutofmybutt?”

Everyone looked at Lance. Keith snorted.

“I…what?” Hunk asked, his brows knitting together.

Lance sighed. “I got some cactus spines basically all over me. Can you help?”

Hunk gave a chuckle. “Yeah, sure buddy. But how did you even manage that?”

“Yeah, Lance, care to share exactly how you managed to get cactus spines all over your body?” Keith said, a sparkle in his eyes.

Okay, Lance was definitely red by this point.

“It happened while Nyma was stealing my horse, okay?” Lance said.

Hunk made an affronted noise. “She pushed you into a cactus?”

“Not exactly,” Lance said, and by this point even Pidge was curious.

“So what? You fell?” Hunk prodded.

“Let’s just say that I thought Nyma was interested in some very…unusual stuff,” Lance said, clearly ready for this conversation to be over.

Keith full-on laughed at this. “Horse-shit-for-brains over here got himself tricked into being tied around a cactus.”

“Keith!” Lance shrieked as everyone laughed.

But Pidge barely cracked a smile. As much as she wanted to, and as ridiculous and Lance-like as that story was, she couldn’t bring herself to laugh with the people who were keeping her from finding her brother.

After cleaning up dinner, everyone started settling it. It had been a long day, filled with disappointments for everyone.

“I’ll take first watch,” Pidge said, and everyone looked up. This was the only thing she had said all evening.

Allura nodded. “Alright, just wake me up for the next one.”

Pidge nodded as everyone turned in.

Pidge moved a little ways away from the camp, sitting on one of the rocks still hot from the day. She listened intently to the camp, hearing the sounds of people settling in. Tell-tale sounds of Keith tossing and turning, the weird murmurs coming from Coran. Pidge gazed out at the horizon, biding her time.

Soon, everyone’s breathing evened out, and Pidge heard the now-familiar snores of Lance and Hunk. It was almost time to wake Allura up, but Pidge had no intention of doing that. Instead, Pidge quietly got up and walked to where the horses were sleeping.

Careful not to disturb the others, Pidge quietly packed up her things and saddled Emmie. She swung up onto her pony and left the camp without so much as a goodbye.

Pidge had a lead, and she wasn’t about to let anyone stop her, not even people she might consider her friends.

—

It took Pidge a total of ten minutes to realize she had made a mistake.

She kept thinking back to Keith. She didn’t even know him a few days ago, didn’t even know that Shiro had a brother. And she kept thinking about the hope on his face when she told him he didn’t have to do this alone anymore.

Pidge groaned and pulled on the reins.

“I’m going to regret this,” she muttered as she turned around and headed back to the camp.

As she approached, Emmie stopped, ears flicking.

Pidge felt it too, the slight tension in the air, and how everything was too quiet.

Then, Pidge saw movement out of the corner of her eye and swiveled her head around to look. Back-lit by the fire, the shadows stood in stark contrast. Pidge’s breath caught as she counted four figures surrounding the defenseless camp.

Shit.

Pidge watched, helpless, as the figures pounced on her friends. She heard a shout—probably Hunk, a strangled yelp—probably Lance, and…oh wow, those were some choice words coming from Allura.

She squinted, trying to make out what was happening. She wanted so desperately to ride into camp, guns blazing. But she had no guns to speak of, and it was more likely she’d just get herself caught and everyone would be in trouble.

Pidge heard a gunshot, and her heart clenched. She caught a glimpse of who she thought was Lance being pinned to the ground, his gun kicked to the side.

Wait a minute. Pidge jumped quietly off Emmie and sneaked forward.

The lack of gunshots was suspicious, and Pidge had a hunch. Staying as quiet as possible, Pidge got as close as she dared.

Pidge’s breath caught as she spied on the ambush. The attackers had guns trained at everyone’s heads, but no one was shooting. No, instead, one of the attackers, a pretty young woman with an impressive ponytail, had a bunch of rope and was in the process of tying up a struggling Lance.

Pidge held in a chuckle. Poor Lance, getting tied up by pretty girls twice in one day, and not for fun reasons.

As bad as this was, Pidge couldn’t help but feel a little bit relieved. It bought her some more time, and that could make all the difference.

There was no way Pidge could just stand here and watch her friends get hurt, but she knew she couldn’t rush into this headlong. If she was Keith, maybe that would work, but she was no fighter, and certainly not an improviser.

No, Pidge’s skill was planning, and one was already brewing.

Pidge smirked. No way anyone messes with her family and gets away with it.

—

Pidge worked quickly but quietly, using her small size and the cover of darkness to her advantage.

She glanced nervously at the camp, hands shaking a bit as she ran out of time.

Allura and Keith had somehow managed to avoid being tied up right away, disarming two of the attackers, but it didn’t take long before one of the attackers, some woman with delicate but severe features, ordered the guns trained on Hunk, Lance, and Coran.

Keith and Allura stopped fighting immediately, and Pidge cursed quietly, moving around the camp to where the horses were. She could really use more time, but she didn’t blame Keith for refusing to put Lance and Hunk in danger. Pidge would have done the same thing.

This would just have to do. There was more she wanted to do, but Pidge prayed it would be enough as she carefully approached where the attackers had left their horses.

Pidge snickered. Completely defenseless, what nimrods.

She approached from the side, carefully and slowly, making sure she didn’t scare the horses. One of the horses, an elegant white creature, eyed her suspiciously, but Pidge calmly pet its neck as she got to work cutting the cinches of the saddles, leaving a little bit so that it would hold right up until it snapped, hopefully with the rider in tow.

When she was done, Pidge glanced at the camp. Alright, no more time to waste. Carefully, Pidge crept back to Emmie and mounted up. She pulled out her little device.

And, reluctantly, she pulled out a small pistol she had tucked into her boot. She knew how to shoot it, but she remembered her brother’s words as he pressed the gun into her hands before he left for Kerberos.

“You only shoot this if absolutely necessary, okay? People here, they like their guns, but people get hurt and people get killed because of them. Don’t ever kill someone unless you absolutely mean it.”

Pidge sighed. She didn’t mean it, she really didn’t. But her friends were in danger, and she had to use every tool in her arsenal. And this happened to be one of them.

“Sorry, Matt,” Pidge whispered, as she tapped Emmie’s side, breaking her into a gallop.

Pidge screamed at the top of her lungs and flew into camp like a fury. She hoped desperately that she didn’t look like a silly little girl playing cowboy. Tears stung her eyes as she plowed into a tank of a woman, causing her to lose her balance as she toppled straight into the fire.

The colossal woman screamed and tried to scramble out.

Pidge hardly noticed, firing her device at the girl with the ponytail, wrapping her in the rough rope. She tugged, forcing Ponytail into Colossus, clicking the little trigger just in time to retract the rope before the two toppled again.

Not bad, Pidge said, turning Emmie to face her next opponent.

Unfortunately, while Pidge was busy celebrating her small victory, the two other women had moved in. Pidge struggled as one of them grabbed her leg, pulling her off Emmie with ease.

Emmie didn’t take kindly to this, and she lashed out, kicking both Pidge and her attacker, though the woman holding her took the brunt of the attack.

Pidge struggled out of the hold, only to be tackled to the ground by the other woman.

Pidge screamed in frustration, trying to free her arm to shoot, hit, scratch, something.

No. No way she was going down like this. Pidge bit her attacker’s arm, and the woman let out a yell, but didn’t let up.

Pidge felt her eyes sting with tears, now pinned down to the point where she could barely move.

All that work, and she got overwhelmed not even a minute in.

With a final growl, Pidge rolled with all her might, and by some miracle, scrabbled away.

By this point, the other two women had disentangled themselves from Pidge’s attack and were now looking like they’d like nothing better than to get some revenge.

Pidge faced the four women closing in on her, brandishing her device and her pistol. Any second now…

BOOM!

Pidge smirked as the four women involuntarily glanced at the source of the explosion, and she ran.

Pidge slid on her knees to where Keith was tied, sawing frantically through his bindings.

“Pidge, where were you? I thought you were on watch,” Keith asked, gritting his teeth.

“Fight now, explain later,” Pidge said.

She glanced up, and saw that the women had caught on.

“Pidge…” said Keith.

“Working as fast as I can here!”

“Well work faster!”

Pidge bared her teeth. These damned ropes were a bit more than her little pocket knife could handle.

She dared a glance up again, and did a double take.

Suddenly, there was a figure standing in front of her, holding out a long staff. Their clothes were dirty, their face covered by a sun-bleached bandanna. They twirled their staff menacingly at the four women.

Without hesitation, they attacked.

The mysterious new player twirled and struck with their staff, their movement fluid but unpredictable. Pidge watched in awe until Keith nudged her shoulder, shouting at her to cut the damn ropes already!

Pidge shook her head, finally sawing through the last of them. Keith broke free with a sigh, a couple knives already in his hand as he jumped into action, using his much bigger knives to cut through the ropes binding Lance, Allura, and Hunk.

They all reached for their weapons, turning to face their attackers.

This fight went decidedly better than Pidge’s first attempt. With Keith, Allura, and the stranger’s combat skills, and with Lance and Hunk providing cover fire, they actually stood a chance.

The previously silence of the night was shattered by the crack of Allura’s whip, the bang of Hunk’s shotgun, and the pop of Lance’s pistols.

“We need to chase them towards those rocks!” Pidge yelled over the din of the fight.

“What?” Lance yelled back. “Why? If they get to their horses we’re screwed!”

“Just trust me!” Pidge yelled, shooting her grappling hook.

Lance and Hunk nodded, aiming for the ground in front of their attackers, driving them backwards.

The team pressed their advantage, the stranger catching on fast.

And all at once, their attackers looked at each other, nodded, and turned around, running for their horses.

Keith made a move as if to go after them, but Pidge put her hand on his arm, stopping him in his tracks. “Wait.”

Keith gave her a look, but Pidge just put up her hand.

And…there! Three distressed yelps came from the direction the women had run. Pidge just smirked.

Lance laughed. “Yeah! That’s my Pidge!”

Guilt twisted in Pidge’s gut as she remembered exactly why she was able to set those traps…but there wasn’t time to dwell on that.

“I bought us some time, but we should go,” Pidge said, moving towards her pony and mounting up.

“Pidge is right, let’s get out of here,” Allura said, quickly wrapping her whip up and reattaching it to her saddle holster.

Everyone nodded, including the stranger, who had mounted up on his own horse, staff placed carefully across the saddle.

Everyone nodded and soon, they were on their way…again.

Once they had determined they were far enough from their campsite, the silence broke.

“Oh my god that was so cool the way you just rode in and BAM!” Lance said excitedly at the same time that Hunk tried to speak.

“I can’t believe you managed to get all those traps set! That was genius, Pidge!”

“Yeah, thanks for saving us back there,” Keith said.

“I didn’t, though. I almost failed. If this person hadn’t jumped in when they did…” Pidge said solemnly, looking at the stranger who hadn’t said a word.

“Yes, I have been meaning to thank you,” Allura said, addressing the newcomer. “We couldn’t have done it without you.”

The stranger pulled off his hood, revealing a familiar mop of light brown hair.

“Anything for my little sister,” he said.

Pidge gasped and shouted, “Matt!” before attempting to tackle him off his horse without losing her own seat.

Matt laughed, eyes bright as he tried to keep his sister from falling off. “Hey, Pidge. Good to see you.”

Pidge couldn’t help it. She felt the telltale prickling behind her eyes before she just started weeping.

“Oh, oh no, hey, Katie, it’s okay!” Matt said, dabbing at her face with a soft bandanna.

Pidge sniffled and looked up. Oh god, he was here. Her brother was really here, right in front of her.

Suddenly, she was overcome with a flash of anger, and she punched his arm.

“What the hell are you doing here? Where the hell have you been?” Pidge asked angrily.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Matt asked, pushing Pidge away and rubbing at his arm.

“Trying to find yours and Shiro’s sorry asses. We’ve been worried sick.”

Pidge couldn’t help but notice Matt’s face fall at the mention of Shiro.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Allura said, bringing her horse a bit closer, “but you’re…Matthew Holt?”

Matt turned from his sister to address Allura, but froze the moment he saw her. Pidge could see the awe in his face as he took her in, and she just rolled her eyes. Figured Matt would still find himself a mess in front of an attractive woman.

“Yes ma’am,” Matt said, reaching for a hat to tilt, but finding none.

“My name is Allura Altea, and my father was Alfor Altea. Shiro was the last person to contact my father, and he said he had information that could take down Zarkon. Please, if you know anything, we really need your help.”

“So there’s good news and bad news,” Matt said, shaking his head a bit. “Good news, I know exactly what we found and it’s enough to take down Zarkon.”

Everyone was silent, the only sounds the creak of the leather saddles and the soft click of metal against metal, and everyone seemed to be holding their breath.

“And the bad news?” Hunk asked cautiously.

“Only Shiro knows where it’s hidden.”

Keith gasped. “Is Shiro…”

“Shiro’s alive. And I know exactly where he is,” Matt said, but his jaw was clenched in a way Pidge didn’t like.

“But what’s the catch?” she asked.

“Zarkon’s got him, and…it’s not pretty.”

Keith pulled Red in front of Matt’s horse and stopped short. “What do you know?”

There was a fire in his eyes that made Pidge shudder.

Matt took a breath, like he was steeling himself. “I suppose I should start at the beginning.”

“That would be best,” Allura said.

Matt nodded.

“I’m still not sure how it happened, but while in Kerberos, my father managed to stumble on some papers—enough blackmail material to at least present a court case against Zarkon. And something else…the last will and testament of your grandfather, actually.”

Allura hummed. “Yes, he left everything to Zarkon. I don’t understand what this has to do with me?”

“Well, that’s not entirely true,” Matt said, smiling wryly. “You see, it turns out that your grandfather actually left almost everything to your father, Alfor.”

Allura gasped audibly. “No, not possible! I saw the will myself just a few years ago, and it very clearly said that everything but the town of Altea would go to Zarkon.”

Matt shook his head. “Apparently not. My father and Shiro figured out that the will you saw must have been a fake. We knew it was true once some of Zarkon’s lunatics started chasing us, threatening us until we gave them the will.”

“What happened?” asked Pidge, completely enraptured.

Matt closed his eyes. “Shiro and I decided to make a run for it, grabbing the will, hopefully give Dad a chance to hide and lay low for a while. They chased us for months. We tried taking on new identities, even joining up with some rebel forces. Eventually, that asshole Lotor and his gang of crazy ladies, whom you all had the pleasure of meeting tonight, by the way, managed to chase us to Arus, and that’s when…” Matt broke off, his voice going soft.

“Shiro?” Keith asked, knowingly.

Matt nodded. “Shiro sacrificed himself so I could get away. Hid the will so they would stop chasing me. That was two months ago, and I’ve been tracking him ever since.”

Matt looked up, his eyes glistening, and he locked eyes with both Pidge and Keith. “I’m so sorry for not telling you guys. Shiro and I thought it best if we didn’t get you involved, and the only way to do that was to stay away.”

Pidge let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. It made sense, of course, and she understood why he did it. But it was hard hearing her brother tell her that he knew she was on her own, didn’t know what happened to her family, and he did nothing.

She looked to Keith, who’s jaw she was beginning to think would be permanently clenched.

“So…where is Shiro, exactly?” Lance piped in, his voice gratefully breaking the awkward silence.

Matt sighed. “It’s not pretty…”

“Just tell us!” Keith said, his voice colored with anger.

Matt looked him in the eyes. “He’s in Zarkon’s fighting ring, in a town not a day’s ride from here.”

Allura gasped again. “Nobody’s come out of that thing alive…”

Keith’s eyes widened, and his gaze anxiously swapped between Allura and Matt. “And he’s been there how long?”

“Three weeks. He’s holding his own, got his own name and everything. Champion. But he’s had to fight every day the past week, and I don’t know how much longer he’s gonna last. At least now, with your help, maybe I can finally break him out.”

Matt looked to Allura, who nodded.

“If Shiro really has this will, it could change everything. Let’s go rescue Shiro.”

Pidge saw Keith smile for the first time since Matt started speaking. “Let’s go rescue Shiro.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally!!!! Matt makes an appearance!!! My apologies to the character because I had to give him so much exposition. So sorry, but we needed to get the ball rolling again. Plus, poor Shiro's been missing for seven chapters. It's about time.
> 
> A couple extra things. Don't be afraid to come say hi on tumblr (thetolkiengeek)! If you shoot me an ask, I'll happily give you updates/chat/scream about Voltron. (Be warned, the new season of the 100 just started, so that might be what I scream about for a while).
> 
> In other news, my friend and I are gonna be collaborating on another fic this summer, so keep an eye out for that! Don't worry--I have every intention of seeing this project through, and now I have a LOT of free time that I'm not using for my thesis. But if sweet, long, kinda angsty Beach AUs are your thing, keep an eye out. We've been having a ton of fun planning it out, and it's gonna be so good. 
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading, as always <3


	10. The Magnificent Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to rescue Shiro

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! So sorry for the delay, but life just got in the way. Finals, graduation. You know how it is. 
> 
> Chapter title from my absolute favorite Western (the 1961 version, but the new one is pretty good too). Hope you guys enjoy <3
> 
> (Bonus to whoever catches my Six of Crows reference)

_We’re going to save Shiro…_

There was something in Keith’s chest that was about ready to burst at the thought.

Keith was having trouble processing everything. Between being ambushed, being rescued by a mysterious stranger, finding out that said mysterious stranger was actually Matthew Holt, and hearing that Shiro was alive and part of some crazy fighting ring…well, it was a wonder Keith didn’t fall over right then and there.

Keith glanced over to where Pidge was laughing with her brother, shoving him so hard he almost fell off his horse. He wanted to be happy for her, but part of him was still just so _angry_. Angry that Pidge was just going to leave them to save Altea on their own, angry that Pidge would just abandon them, abandon him. And most of all, Keith was angry that Pidge had her brother back.

That wasn’t fair, and Keith knew it, so he kept his anger to himself, looking on with jealousy as Matt knocked Pidge’s hat off her head and laughed.

“Everything okay there, horseboy?”

Keith startled a bit in Red’s saddle. He turned to see Lance look at him with those piercing blue eyes of his.

Oh, and that was the other thing. Keith had hoped that seeing Lance literally pull cactus spines out of his ass would make him less attractive, but somehow, he was still as pretty as ever. Keith was so close to rescuing his brother, he didn’t need another distraction in the mix. He didn’t need the image of Lance as he rolled into position, guns blazing, a fierce look in his eyes, playing over and over in his head.

And he certainly didn’t need Lance looking at him like that, like he could tell exactly what was wrong.

“I’m fine,” Keith huffed.

Lance pushed his hat up a bit and gave Keith a look. “Are you sure? Because from here, it looks like you’re upset about something. Thought you’d be happier.”

Keith frowned. “Happy about what, exactly?”

“That we’re on our way to rescue your brother? That we have a plan?”

Keith turned away. Yeah, they had a plan. As soon as Matt revealed what happened to Shiro, they grilled him about what exactly it was they were up against. With all of them working together, they came up with something resembling a plan.

“Yeah, I guess,” Keith admitted, still refusing to look at Lance. Instead, he looked out on the horizon, the desert heat making ripples in the distance where sky met earth.

“Come on, aren’t you excited to see your brother again?” Lance pushed, nudging Keith with his elbow.

Keith gave in and looked up. Lance’s blue eyes were filled with so much hope and excitement. Two things Keith refused to feel.

“He’s been there for _three weeks_ , Lance. We’ve all heard the rumors about that place. It’ll be a miracle if he’s still in one piece once we get there.”

Lance gave him a sad smile. “I know it’s hard, but you gotta have a little faith. I mean, he’s _the_ Takashi Shirogane. That guy’s been through worse and gotten out of it okay.”

Keith sighed. “Yeah, I just…I don’t know if I can afford to hope right now.”

Lance reached across and put a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “It’ll be okay, I promise. We have a plan.”

Keith tried to ignore the little jolt of electricity running up and down his arm at Lance’s touch. “Yeah, a bad plan.”

Lance rolled his eyes and shoved Keith playfully, regretfully letting go of Keith’s shoulder. “Oh just admit it, that plan is awesome.”

Keith gave a little smile. “Are you joking? The plan where I’m stuck with you for most of the night? Like that’ll end well.”

Lance looked affronted. “I’ll have you know that I’m excellent in a crisis.”

Keith raised his eyebrows. “Says the guy who threw up in the middle of a gunfight.”

“I had just killed a man for the first time, Keith! That doesn’t count!”

Keith sobered at that. He looked at Lance, really looked. He seemed okay, but after only a few days with this boy, Keith already knew that there was a lot more going on beneath the goofball exterior. “You doing okay with that?”

Lance shrugged, face falling a bit. “As well as I can be, I guess. I’ve made my peace with it. I won’t ever be happy about it, I suppose, but…this is the price we pay. Doing the right thing, fighting the bad guys.”

Keith gave Lance a sad smile. This was a lesson a guy like Lance shouldn’t have ever had to learn, but here they were. And Keith was proud of Lance. This wasn’t easy, and lesser men would have turned back days ago. Yet, instead of turning and running, Lance stayed. He didn’t have to. He didn’t have a brother to find, or an entire town counting on him to save them, but he was here anyway, ready to do whatever he could to save whoever he could.

“I’m glad to have you here, Lance,” Keith blurted. Oh god, he hadn’t meant to say that out loud.

Lance’s face broke out into a grin, his smile as bright as the noonday sun. “Thanks, Keith. That means a lot, coming from you.”

“But I’m still not happy about this plan,” Keith said.

Lance laughed, bright and loud. “Relax, horseboy. You’ll have me with you to help the whole time.”

Keith grimaced. “That’s what worries me.”

“Let’s just go over the plan again, I’m sure you’ll feel better once we get closer.”

—

Keith did not, in fact, feel better once they got closer.

They had seen the town appear on the horizon just before sunset, and now that dusk hit, it was time to start the plan.

Keith’s stomach turned, and he was grateful that they hadn’t stopped to eat anything more than some hard biscuits. He wasn’t sure his nerves would let him keep anything else down.

He and Lance had broken off from the rest of the group half an hour ago, approaching the town head-on while the others split off in opposite directions.

God, Keith hoped this worked.

“Why am I stuck with you again?” Keith asked, probably for the billionth time that day.

“Because Allura and Matt would be recognized in an instant, and Hunk and Pidge are needed for the other part of the plan. And Coran isn’t exactly the most subtle man.”

Keith shuddered at the thought.

“I still don’t understand why I couldn’t have gone by myself…” Keith grumbled.

Lance rolled his eyes. “Because, Keith, you need backup. You literally bring knives to a gunfight.”

“That’s because I’m good with knives.”

“And also, you’re a stab first, ask questions later kind of guy, and we won’t be able to ask any questions because they’ll all be dead,” Lance added, mostly to himself.

Though Keith wouldn’t ever admit it, he was grateful for Lance’s presence. His hands were shaky with anticipation, and he couldn’t guarantee that he wouldn’t fumble his knives the moment he saw Shiro.

Keith gazed up at the horizon, the remaining light of day fading quickly to a deep purple. Directly in front of him, Keith could see the bonfires being lit, the dancing lights of the town standing in stark contrast to the darkening desert.

Lance fell quiet as a roar came from the crowd already gathered in the town. The clamor grew louder as they approached, and Keith glanced up, unsettled by Lance’s silence. It was hard to tell in this light, but Lance looked paler than usual, a lot of his bravado fading as they got closer and closer.

Keith took a deep breath. “Well, you ready?”

Lance glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and nodded. “Let’s do this.”

They brought their horses to a brisk trot and covered the short distance to the town. The place could barely be called a town, really. It was more a collection of small shed surrounding a fenced-in corral, bursting to the seams with people in various states of dirty. This place clearly was just a stop, nothing more than the saloon, the corral, and not even a post office. It didn’t even have a name.

What it did have was a portly man sitting at the end of the road, just as Matt had said.

What Matt failed to mention was that the man, as intimidating as his hulking physique was, was possibly the funniest thing Keith had ever seen. He and Lance shared a look, and the corners of Lance’s mouth twitched up.

“That’s, uh, an interesting hat you’ve got on there sir,” Lance said above the din of the crowd, his voice strained with trying to keep in his laughter. Keith’s sides shook, but he kept his face passive.

This man’s hat was a puke green, warped from the sun and probably sweat, and it drooped lopsided over his intense, chiseled face. But the real kicker was the frilly pink ribbon tied around it, trailing off the brim.

The man just looked on unamused, not saying a word.

“Uh…” Keith started, fumbling his words a bit, “w-we’d like to g-go inside—”

Lance cut him off. Keith figured he should be angry, but he could hear how awkward he already sounded, like some nervous kid.

“Sir, we’re here for the fight,” Lance said, with so much confidence that if Keith hadn’t seen Lance’s hand beating a nervous beat against his thigh, he would have thought he knew what he was doing.

The man raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you boys a little young?”

Lance didn’t miss a beat. “Old enough to need the money, sir.”

The man sighed. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”

“So…you gonna let us in?” Lance said, nudging Blue forward just a bit.

“Well, we’re all in need of a bit of money now, aren’t we?” the guy said, holding out his palm. The effect was ruined a bit by the hat, but Lance rolled his eyes anyway and handed the man a few bills.

Keith winced. Everyone was strapped for cash nowadays, but especially the little impromptu group they got together. This was likely a good portion of all Lance had left.

The man stepped aside and gestured for them to move along. Keith nodded his hat, and signaled Red.

Without the large, scary, questionably fashionable man blocking the view, Keith could see the town much more clearly. The corral was front and center, and suddenly, the source of all the ruckus became clear. In the ring, two men were pummeling the shit out of each other. The scent of blood and urine filled the air, and the sandy ground had streaks of brown stained into it. All around, men and women, clearly of ill-repute, cheered and jeered as the men fought.

Lance tapped Keith on the arm, and Keith dragged his eyes away. Lance’s blue eyes pierced his, meeting Keith with the exact same terror he was feeling. But in Lance’s eyes, Keith could also see the fire, that determination that no matter how scary things felt, they’d see it through to the end.

Lance jerked his head towards the posts off to the side, on the very edge of town, and Keith nodded, leading the way. Dismounting their horses, they made their way back to the corral, skirting around the outside.

Keith’s senses were going into overdrive. He was scanning the crowds for threats, but the problem was, everyone here was a threat. The glint of knives, the shine of a gun, a hardened stare. Keith ran his hands over his knives, counting quietly to himself.

Suddenly, Keith felt a pain in his side. “Ow!”

He looked over to the culprit, where Lance didn’t look guilty in the slightest. “Lance,” Keith scolded.

“C’mon, man. You gotta relax a bit, or everyone’s gonna know we’re up to something.”

Keith sighed and forcibly relaxed his shoulders. “I know, I know. It’s just…I haven’t seen Shiro for six months. What if he isn’t okay?”

Lance softened a bit. “He’s gonna be fine. This plan is going to work.”

He said it with such confidence. Keith just wished he could believe him. But his gut was telling him something was going to go wrong. The last time this happened, they were ambushed and nearly killed, and he wasn’t about to let that happen again.

He took a breath to say as much, but he quickly snapped his jaw shut and tensed.

“What is it?” Lance asked, hands moving subtly to his gun holsters.

“Behind you. There’s a man, he keeps staring at you. I don’t like the look of him.”

Lance casually turned around.

Keith’s heart started beating faster than a galloping horse. “Lance, what are you doing?” he hissed.

“Huh,” Lance said.

The offending man started making his way over. Keith didn’t think it was possible, but he tensed even more.

The guy sidled up to Lance and gave him a once-over. Lance, for his part, didn’t bat an eyelash, not once, not even when the man tried to hand Lance a glass of whiskey.

“You looked like you could use a drink.”

Lance looked at the glass and looked at him, pointedly not taking it. “Oh?”

“You’re new around here,” he said, no question in his voice.

Lance shifted his weight, subtly flashing the handles of his revolvers. “How could you tell?”

The guy gave Lance another lecherous look. “I think I’d remember if I’d seen you before.”

An ugly feeling roared up in Keith, filling up his stomach. Distantly, he recognized it as jealousy, but all he could feel was anger. How dare someone look at Lance like he was some piece of meat. Before he knew it, Keith had one of his knives in his palm.

Before Keith could move, however, Lance smirked at the guy. He gently pushed the glass away.

“As flattered as I am,” Lance said, sounding genuine, “I’m here on business, not pleasure.”

Then, to Keith’s utter dismay, Lance winked at the man.

The guy gave a small nod. “I can respect that. But the whiskey’s still yours.” And he turned and walked away.

Keith’s jaw must have been on the floor. His world was spinning a bit.

“What was that all about?” he said, once he had his voice back.

Lance just looked confused. “What?”

“That!” Keith said, gesturing vaguely with his hands, which, in hindsight, might have been a bad idea because he had a knife in one hand. He quickly re-sheathed it in his sleeve before it got him in trouble.

“I don’t exactly see what the problem is,” Lance said, and Keith could tell he was angry. “If you’re offended, you can just get lost.”

Keith blinked. “Offended? Why would I be…oh! Wait, no, that’s not it. I just thought…”

“Thought what?” Lance said, challenge unmistakable in his voice.

Keith shrugged a bit helplessly. “I just…don’t you like girls?”

“Not just girls,” Lance said, winking at Keith.

Keith felt heat flood his face and he couldn’t help but look away. There was no way he’d be able to handle the full force of Lance’s gaze. Hope and a mess of other feelings flooded through Keith like they hadn’t ever before. He’d never been one for crushes, and when he got one, it was always on a guy. And he was a big enough man to acknowledge now that he was crushing on Lance, hard. And there was a point that he thought maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t entirely one-sided. But then, Nyma had happened, and Keith had resigned himself to pining from afar.

But now…

Keith hadn’t quite realized the depths of his feelings before, what he had been shoving down deep inside. This wasn’t love, not by any means, but Keith’s mind ran backwards, reassessing every single interaction he had with this boy. From the moment they met, to target practice, to Lance’s incessant teasing, to lingering glances.

This boy was infuriating, but he was finally starting to admit that it was in the best possible way.

Keith could feel his heart hammering in his chest, and he dared to look back up.

Lance hadn’t taken his eyes of Keith. Those blue eyes flickered with hidden meaning, but now, Keith finally felt like he understood. He drew his gaze over Lance’s smooth tan skin, glowing bronze in the light of the bonfires scattered throughout town. He got caught on Lance’s lips, soft and smooth, just a little chapped. Stuttering, stuck, Keith pulled his eyes back up to Lance’s.

He was being burned by the smoldering cool fire that was Lance, and he really, really didn’t mind. Keith felt himself start to lean forward, hopelessly in sync with Lance.

A roar sounded around them, startling them both out of their daze. Keith’s head snapped up, his hands reaching instinctively for his knives, internally berating himself for getting so distracted. He was here to rescue his brother, goddammit, not flirt with the prettiest boy he’d ever seen.

“And now, ladies and not-so-gentlemen!” a man with a booming voice called out, “the moment you’ve all been waiting for…give it up for…CHAMPION!”

The roar was deafening now, and Keith had to resist the urge to cover his ears.

Through the crowd, Keith saw a glint of metal, a flash of black. He and Lance shoved forward, much to the disgruntlement of the crowd, but they were small, and Keith was determined. This, this had to be Shiro. It had to be.

Keith made it to an opening before Lance, but he wished he hadn’t.

If Keith hadn’t grown up with Shiro, hadn’t had his face imprinted into his memory from fights with his brother, from days sitting in the living room feeling sorry for themselves and their dead parents, from smiling down at Keith from the roof of the barn they had just completed, if Keith hadn’t known his brother so well, he would not have recognized him.

The first thing Keith noticed was the shock of white hair, tufted at the front. The next was a new scar across the whole of his nose, white with age. The hair and the scar only served to emphasize the tiredness that Keith saw in his eyes.

But the next thing made Keith’s breath catch.

Shiro’s entire right arm, from shoulder to fingertips, was gone. Replaced instead by a prosthetic, outfitted with pistons and brass plating.

“Oh no,” Lance breathed.

Keith didn’t say a word, just grabbed Lance’s wrist, trying to find something, anything to ground him. He felt like he was floating above his body, knowing that there was relief and grief and anger, all at once, but not really feeling any it.

Keith felt a little tug on his hand, and he looked down to see Lance entangling Keith’s fingers with his own, squeezing softly. Keith took a deep breath, focusing on the points of contact.

His brother was here, alive, and that was what mattered. They had a plan, and they’d see it through.

Shiro looked over the crowd, grimacing a bit at the sound of the crowd, and Keith felt for him. Surviving the war, being a hero, that was never an easy thing for his brother. Keith remembers vividly trying to talk to his brother about his time in the army, but Shiro would just shake his head.

 _“Violence only leads to more violence, Keith. War isn’t something you should chase after,”_ he had said _. “Patience yields focus. I think if we all had a bit more patience, the world would be a better place.”_

“Patience yields focus,” Keith said, brought back to the present.

Almost as if he heard Keith, Shiro locked eyes with his brother.

His eyes widened, but they quickly settled back to indifference. Keith tried to convey that his rescue was there, but he didn’t think Shiro would be able to see anything but fear and concern.

Before Keith could do something stupid like march up to the corral and drag his brother out in front of everyone, the booming voice rang out again.

“And tonight’s contender…KULOG!”

The crowd roared again, and the largest man Keith had ever seen in his life stepped into the corral. He shuddered, but he barely had a moment to take any of it in, when a shout sounded and the fight started.

Keith couldn’t tear his eyes away. Shiro moved like water, his arm not hindering him at all. He fought with a beauty and grace that Keith could never hope to achieve.

But his opponent was no slack either. He had a large knife, jagged and rusty, but still sharp. He moved surprisingly fast for a man of his size, and Keith’s breath caught every time the swipe of the knife got too close.

Keith would have stared, mesmerized by the fight in front of him, frozen forever, but Lance tugged on his hand.

“Come on horseboy, we have a plan to stick to.”

Keith nodded, shaking himself out of his stupor. “Right, let’s go.”

They wove their way through the crowd, scoping out the perfect spot to execute their plan.

 _“Get to a spot that’s crowded, but where you can easily get away,”_ Matt had said, _“and wait for the perfect moment, when the crowd is just crazy enough to do something stupid.”_

Well, Keith wasn’t sure what that moment was, but Lance seemed confident. He followed Lance through to a spot midway through the crowd. Keith could feel everyone push forward with excitement, an agitation humming through the air. Someone moved in front of him, giving him a clear view of the fight.

Kulog took a swipe at Shiro, and while the crowd held its breath, Keith flinched. Shiro rolled at the last possible second, and in one fluid movement, he swept his feet out, tripping his opponent.

Keith and Lance shared a look, and Lance nodded. Keith loosened his knives in his sheaths, and Lance smoothly pulled out his guns.

Kulog swiped again with his knife from the ground, catching Shiro off-guard, the metal clanging against the new prosthetic arm. The crowd roared, and at that moment, Lance squeezed the trigger.

CRACK!

Kulog went reeling, shot in the arm just as he was getting ready to strike Shiro.

The crowd erupted, screams of anger, cries of outrage, gasps of shock filled the nighttime air, people scrambling to look for the source of the gunshot, but Lance and Keith were already gone, whirling through the crowd.

Keith weaved through people, his knives ready but away, taking advantage of the chaos. He and Lance had split up, making their way around the corral, and circling their way to Shiro.

The already chaotic crowd had evolved into an outright riot. People were looking where Keith and Lance weren’t, and fistfights were already starting to break out.

BOOM!

An explosion sounded in the distance.

They’d never known chaos quite like this.

Dodging and weaving, Keith made it to the other side when the first gunshots started firing. He knew that Allura, Pidge, and Matt were going to fire randomly outside the crowd, keeping everyone confused, but there were too many. Some of those gunshots had to have been real.

He fought his way to the edge of the corral, kneeling beside the fence, where Shiro had ducked down, searching the crowd intently.

“Shiro!” Keith yelled, reaching out.

Shiro’s head whipped around. “Keith? Keith, is that really you?”

“Yeah,” Keith breathed, a reedy laugh escaping him, “yeah, it’s really me. Come on.” Keith scrambled back, pulling Shiro through the fence.

Shiro stumbled out but found his footing, and Keith barely let him stand up straight before throwing himself into Shiro’s arms and squeezing tightly.

“Shiro,” Keith sniffed. “I’ve missed you so much.”

Shiro squeezed back with his left arm. “I’ve missed you too, Keith.”

Keith could feel the beginnings of tears fill his eyes as he hugged his brother for the first time in six months.

“I really hate to break this up,” came Lance’s voice, “but we gotta move.”

Keith reluctantly let go of Shiro, sliding out of his arms and stepping back. He looked at Lance, not bothering to wipe his eyes, and nodded, then turned back to his brother.

“Let’s get you out of here,” he said.

The crowd was still in chaos, the gunshots reaching a crescendo. Lance was scanning the crowd, his guns steady in his hand. Keith joined, looking for an opening.

“There!” Keith shouted, and he, Lance, and Shiro sprinted through the crowd, using the utter pandemonium to cover their escape.

Glancing behind, checking that Shiro was still with them, and that nobody was on their tail, Keith spotted someone raising a gun.

Without hesitating, Keith threw his knife, catching the man in the throat. He fell quietly, any sounds drowned out by the din.

Weaving through the rest of the crowd, they somehow made it to their horses, Blue and Red just where they left them, saddled and ready. Next to them was a beautiful black stallion, and Keith barely spared a thought before undoing the leads on all three horses.

In a moment, they were all mounted, riding off into the dark.

Lance and Keith shared a look across their horses, Lance smirking. “I told you the plan was a good one.”

Keith just laughed, and pushed Red just a bit further, knowing Lance wouldn’t be able to resist following suit with Blue.

Shiro followed, the black stallion eager to run as the rest, and it was no time at all before they spotted the others at the meet-up point.

Hunk and Pidge’s arms were covered in black dust, but they were grinning like idiots.

“What did you think of our distraction?” Pidge asked.

Lance laughed and ruffled her hair. “It was perfect! You should have seen the looks on their faces.”

“I’m so glad you’re alright,” Allura said, smiling more than Keith had ever seen her smile.

“Matt?” Shiro said as he peered at the other as they rode up. “I told you to lay low.”

Matt grinned wryly. “Well, you know me, I was never very good at subtle. Besides, you know I’ve always wanted my face on a wanted poster.”

Shiro shook his head, trying to reprimand his friend, but Keith could see the smile threatening to break off his face.

“Thank you, all of you, for coming for me,” Shiro said, looking at everyone in turn.

“You are most welcome,” Allura said, “though I have to say, my own motivations are not completely selfless. I am Allura Altea, and I believe I need your help.”

Keith glanced between Allura and his brother. Shiro’s eyes visibly widened. “Allura Altea? You’re alive?”

The side of Allura’s mouth quirked a bit. “I see you know who I am. And you know that the fate of the entire west depends on where I can find this will.”

Shiro nodded. “I suppose Matt filled you in. I hid it, after we were chased by Zarkon and his cronies.”

Allura nodded grimly. “I’m afraid we don’t have time for pleasantries. Please, tell me where it is.”

Shiro looked to his brother. “We can trust her? She’s the real deal?”

Keith startled, a bit surprised to be addressed. “Y-yeah. She’s real.”

Shiro turned back to Allura. “I hid it in an old bank vault in a ghost town. A place called Arus.”

The group fell silent, shock running through them all.

“You…we were…the whole time?” Allura said, whispering.

Shiro looked around. “I take it you’re familiar?”

Lance let out a barking laugh. “Familiar? That’s the first place we looked for you.”

Allura looked almost devastated. “And to think, I was probably sleeping right next to it.”

Keith looked around at everyone. They looked so _sad_ , and Keith shook his head in wonderment.

“What the hell are we waiting for, then?”

Everyone looked up. “We know where it is. Let’s go get it, and get Allura to Altea.”

Lance smiled, and Keith’s heart went _tha-thump_. “I’m with horseboy. Let’s do this.”

Allura looked around at everyone. “Are you sure? This isn’t your fight. I know you all didn’t sign up for this. You have Shiro and Matt, I wouldn’t blame you if you bailed now.”

Hunk shook his head. “No can do. You’re stuck with us.”

“Yeah,” Pidge said, “we’re with you to the end.”

Allura smiled, and even in the dark Keith could see the glint of a tear rolling down her cheek. “Thank you, everyone.”

“Well then, we’ve decided. Let’s go save Altea,” Shiro said, and everyone turned their horses to Arus.

\--

On a nearby hilltop, a figure sat on his horse. His calculating gaze was turned towards a set of eight people on horses, galloping towards a distant town.

Quietly, the figure raised a hand, signaling the rest of his posse behind him, and turned his horse and began making his way down the hill.

He smiled to himself. His day of reckoning was coming. He just had to follow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First, thank you to everyone who's left comments and kudos. I don't have a ton of kudos, but every comment makes my day. I feel a bit like a local writer at a farmer's market, you know? These comments really keep me going. 
> 
> A couple things. First, please let me know how I'm doing. The pacing on this chapter felt a bit off, especially at the end, but there were moments in this chapter that I really loved, so please validate me lol
> 
> Second, don't forget to check out my other fics! I've written a handful for Voltron, and I've got a TON of new ideas. And once again, keep an eye out. My friend Dani and I are going to collab on a beach AU coming up here soon (as in, we're probably gonna be writing a ton next week). 
> 
> Third, this fic is starting to come to a close. You'll notice I put a chapter count up, but I'd like to know if you'd rather have me have one BIG chapter next to finish it all off, or break it up into smaller chapters. I'm good with either, but it's up to you guys. 
> 
> As always, thank you for reading, and don't be afraid to come say hi on [my tumblr](http://thetolkiengeek.tumblr.com/)

**Author's Note:**

> So I've based a lot of the setup on one of my favorite westerns 3:10 to Yuma, and I'm gonna try and have all the chapters be named after Westerns. However, I feel like I should add that though I love Westerns, I am trying to be aware of harmful depictions of Native Americans, as well as their general erasure in popular media. It's extremely important that I emphasize that the land that these people own originally belong to native groups, and in fact, what these characters are going through is not anywhere near as horrific as the actual seizure of native lands. I'm not sure if I can tackle these issues with nuance, but I'm going to try my best. I am a fairly privileged white woman, and I will make mistakes, so don't ever hesitate to let me know if anything I say is insensitive.
> 
> Update: I made a playlist!!!! [Here](https://open.spotify.com/user/12130135307/playlist/2YxveDjJwlVkUGAIK7vrZC) is the Spotify playlist (and if you want me to make a YouTube playlist for accessibility, just lmk!)


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